Uric Acid

The risk for gout flare when initiating urate lowering therapy varies based on the drug and dosing strategy used, according to a systematic review and network meta-analysis published in Arthritis Care & Research.

When an individual has an excess of uric acid in the blood, it can crystallize in the joints and cause gout, the most common form of inflammatory arthritis in the United States.

An increased proportion of patients with uncontrolled gout maintained treatment response at 6 months with concomitant methotrexate and pegloticase, compared with pegloticase alone, according to data published in The Journal of Rheumatology.

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.

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.

ATLANTA — The 2019 ACR gout guidelines call for treating patients to a target serum urate level of 6 mg/dL, a marked departure from the 2012 document, according to speakers at ACR/ARP 2019.

In a new analysis from the CANVAS trial, researchers identified 14 biomarkers with significant mediating effects on the efficacy of canagliflozin for HF among patients with type 2 diabetes, with erythrocyte concentration, serum urate and urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio having the strongest effect.