Gout News

Approximately 35% of relevant industry payments to U.S.-based authors of American College of Rheumatology clinical practice guidelines remain undisclosed, according to findings published in Arthritis & Rheumatology.

Among individuals with European ancestry, genetic variants demonstrate a strong impact on gout risk in those with overweight or obese BMI, with a similar effect seen in those with normal or low BMI, according to data published in Arthritis & Rheumatology.

MAUI, Hawaii — Although traditionally marked by scant changes in treatment and diagnosis from its prehistoric roots, the field of rheumatology experienced a windfall of “disruptive innovation” following World War II — an unlikely catalyst that also revolutionized surfing technology, according to a unique “Hawaiian TED Talk” presented at the 2020 Rheumatology Winter Clinical Symposium.

Both allopurinol and febuxostat carry similar, significant increased risks for hypersensitivity reactions compared with colchicine, according to data published in Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

Frequent mental distress is commonly reported among adults with arthritis across all 50 states and Washington, D.C., with the highest prevalence reported in the Appalachian region and southern states, according to data published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Among patients with type 2 diabetes, using SGLT2 inhibitors may lower the risk for gout compared with other antidiabetic medications, according to study findings published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

The rheumatology community lost clinician and educator Calvin R. Brown, MD, on Dec. 1, 2019. He was 66 years old. His final years were spent at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, practicing rheumatology and training fellows in the specialty.

Although there are considerable intersectional inequalities among various age, gender and socioeconomic groups in the likelihood of diagnosis for osteoarthritis, gout and rheumatoid arthritis, no such inequalities were found for spondyloarthritis diagnosis, according to findings published in Arthritis Care & Research.

Experts might use words like “suboptimal” or “insufficient” to describe gout management in the United States. To be fair, many gout specialists and rheumatologists use those exact words. But they also say that gout management in the U.S. is “crummy” or outright “sucks.” They say these things not behind closed doors or at dinner meetings, but from the dais of national and international rheumatology conferences. This suggests that gout management is beyond problematic.

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