This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Patients with gout less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Patients with gout had a 24% lower risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease, according to findings from a study of patients in a British database.
Researchers identified 59,224 patients with gout and 238,805 without gout from The Health Improvement Network (THIN) digital medical records database, which encompasses approximately 10.2 million patients from 580 general practices in the U.K. Patients were included in the study if they were at least 40 years of age and had at least 1 year of active enrollment at a general practice enrolled in the THIN database between Jan. 1, 1995, and Dec. 31, 2013. Exclusion criteria included prior diagnosis of gout or dementia. The index date for patients with gout was considered to be the date of diagnosis.
Patients with gout were matched with up to five patients without gout based on age, sex, BMI and time of entry into the cohort. Mean age in both groups at baseline was 65 years, and 71% were men.
The researchers observed patients with gout were more likely to consume alcohol, had more frequent physician visits, had more cardio-metabolic comorbidities and were more likely to be prescribed medications for cardiovascular disease (CVD).
Matched comparison between patients with gout and patients without gout showed the hazard ratio for developing Alzheimer’s disease was 0.71. After adjusting for covariates including smoking status, alcohol consumption, other lifestyle factors and history of CVD, the risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease was similarly lower for patients with gout, and a similar risk level was seen in patients with gout and CVD.
Similar results were also seen in a sensitivity analysis that included 31,799 patients with gout who received anti-gout medication.
Because no association has been identified in patients with osteoarthritis (OA), the researchers also compared a cohort of 206,664 patients with OA to 828,018 participants without OA matched by age, sex, study entry time and BMI. No association with Alzheimer’s disease was found. – by Shirley Pulawski
Disclosure: Lu has no relevant financial disclosures. Please see the full study for a complete list of all other authors’ financial disclosures.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts