Serious infections were the reason for 14.5% of all hospitalizations among people with gout in the USA in 2015–2016, compared with 8.9% in 1998–2000, according to an analysis of data from the U.S. National Inpatient Sample. From 1998 to 2016, rates of hospitalization due to sepsis increased 19.3-fold, for opportunistic infections increased 2.6-fold and for pneumonia increased 2.2-fold. The overall rate of in-hospital mortality was 10.1% for those with sepsis, 4% for opportunistic infections, 3.1% for pneumonia, 0.6% for skin and soft tissue infection and 0.5% for urinary tract infections.