Survey: Patients Believe Gout Can Be Successfully Managed With Dietary Changes Alone

Issue: July 2016

When it comes to managing gout and controlling painful flares, a new survey from the Gout and Uric Acid Education Society showed many Americans with gout may be placing too much emphasis on controlling their diet.

In an online survey of 1,000 nationally representative Americans with an oversampling of 103 interviews of adults diagnosed with gout, researchers found 50% of participants cited changing their diet by eliminating or reducing consumption of certain foods as their tops step taken to manage gout. This was followed by taking medications to lower uric acid levels (40% of respondents) and maintaining an overall healthy fitness level (33% of respondents), according to a press release from the Gout and Uric Acid Education Society.

N. Lawrence Edwards

Overall, researchers noted one in three patients with gout believe the disease can be completely avoided by eliminating certain foods, while one in four respondents noted they would not take medications if they were making dietary changes. According to the release, patients with gout should check their uric acid levels every 6 months and aim for a healthy target of 6 mg/dL or less.

“Physicians all too often see patients who believe they can successfully manage their gout with diet alone,” N. Lawrence Edwards, MD, a rheumatologist and chairman of the Gout and Uric Acid Education Society, said in the release. “But even with extremely rigid diet restrictions, most gout patients will only be able to lower their uric acid levels slightly — not nearly enough to achieve a healthy level to control flares and reduce risk for long-term damage.” – by Casey Tingle

Reference: