People with gout have 58% higher risk of heart disease, UL study finds

Researchers at University of Limerick have found that people suffering from gout are at higher risk of death from heart disease and other illnesses.

The study carried out at UL’s graduate entry medical school showed people with gout, which affects about 180,000 people in Ireland, are a 58% higher risk of death from heart disease, and 42% more likely to die from all other illnesses.

Prof Austin Stack headed the team, which examined the relationships of gout and serum uric acid with mortality over a 10-year period in 15,773 people.

“Most published studies to date have not looked at the combined impact of gout and elevated uric acid concentrations on the risk of death in representative samples of the population.

“First, we found that individuals with a diagnosis of gout had a great abundance of many known cardiovascular conditions and risk factors such as diabetes, hypertension, physical inactivity, obesity, and smoking. These would certainly put individuals into a high risk category,” he said.

“But even when we took these factors into account, individuals in the study with gout died earlier than those without and also experienced a higher risk of dying from heart disease.”

He said they had proven for the first time the adverse impact of gout increases with rising uric acid concentration. People with the highest uric acid levels experienced a 77% higher risk of death and a 209% risk of cardiovascular death.

He said what was remarkable was that, even among individuals considered having healthy lifestyles, the risk of death increased by between 9% and 13%.

Prof Stack said the study did not prove that gout or elevated uric acid caused cardiovascular disease but lent “further credibility” to the idea that gout and elevated uric levels were risk markers for cardiovascular disease and early death.

“The time has come to evaluate the efficacy of treatments that lower uric acid levels in reducing cardiovascular death and preventing premature death.”