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Global epidemiology of gout: prevalence, incidence, treatment patterns and risk factors

Nature Reviews Rheumatology volume 16, pages 380–390 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

Gout is the most common inflammatory arthritis and occurs when hyperuricaemia, sustained elevation of serum urate levels resulting in supersaturation of body tissues with urate, leads to the formation and deposition of monosodium urate crystals in and around the joints. Recent reports of the prevalence and incidence of gout vary widely according to the population studied and methods employed but range from a prevalence of <1% to 6.8% and an incidence of 0.58–2.89 per 1,000 person-years. Gout is more prevalent in men than in women, with increasing age, and in some ethnic groups. Despite rising prevalence and incidence, suboptimal management of gout continues in many countries. Typically, only a third to half of patients with gout receive urate-lowering therapy, which is a definitive, curative treatment, and fewer than a half of patients adhere to treatment. Many gout risk factors exist, including obesity, dietary factors and comorbid conditions. As well as a firmly established increased risk of cardiovascular disease and chronic kidney disease in those with gout, novel associations of gout with other comorbidities have been reported, including erectile dysfunction, atrial fibrillation, obstructive sleep apnoea, osteoporosis and venous thromboembolism. Discrete patterns of comorbidity clustering in individuals with gout have been described. Increasing prevalence and incidence of obesity and comorbidities are likely to contribute substantially to the rising burden of gout.

Key points

  • Gout is a common chronic crystal deposition disorder that affects between <1% and 6.8% of the population depending upon the population studied.

  • Both prevalence and incidence of gout seem to be rising across the globe.

  • Management of gout continues to be poor, with fewer than one half of patients receiving definitive ‘curative’ urate-lowering therapy.

  • Adherence to urate-lowering therapy is often poor and rates of non-persistence are high.

  • Obesity and comorbidities are important risk factors for gout and are important drivers of its rising prevalence and incidence.

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Fig. 1: Estimated prevalence of gout worldwide.
Fig. 2: Age-specific prevalence of gout in five countries/territories.
Fig. 3: Trends in gout incidence in five countries/territories.
Fig. 4: Patterns of comorbidity clustering in individuals with gout.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank L. Hammarbäck and E. Hessman of Biomedical Libraries at Gothenburg University Library, Sweden, for help with the literature search.

Review criteria

Articles for inclusion in this Review were obtained by multiple searches of PubMed, SCOPUS and the Cochrane Database with the search terms categorized as ‘epidemiology-related’ (‘gout’, ‘gouty arthritis’, ‘uric acid’, ‘hyperuricaemia’, ‘tophus’, ‘monosodium urate crystals’, ‘prevalence’, ‘incidence’, ‘relative risks’ and ‘odds ratios’), ‘urate lowering therapy-related’ (‘urate-lowering therapy’, ‘ULT’, ‘allopurinol’, ‘benzbromarone’, ‘febuxostat’, ‘pegloticase’, ‘probenecid’, ‘lesinurad’ and ‘prophylactic treatment/therapy’) and ‘risk factors-related’ (‘hyperuricaemia’, ‘urate’, ‘uric acid’, ‘tophus’, ‘monosodium urate crystals’, ‘obesity’, ‘overweight’, ‘adiposity’, ‘diet’, ‘dietary factors’, ‘food’, ‘comorbidity’, ‘alcoholism’, ‘alcohol abuse’, ‘cancer’, ‘chronic kidney disease’, ‘CKD’, ‘renal disease’, ‘kidney failure’, ‘chronic lung disease’, ‘lung disease’, ‘pulmonary disease’, ‘heart disease’, ‘heart failure’, ‘haematological disease’, ‘anemia’, ‘sickle cell anemia’, ‘polycythemia’, ‘hypertension’, ‘metabolic syndrome’, ‘psoriasis’, ‘thyroid disease’ and ‘comorbid condition’). Only articles published in English and in the period from January 2015 to the end of May 2019 were included.

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  1. Department of Rheumatology and Inflammation Research, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Mats Dehlin & Lennart Jacobsson

  2. Primary Care Centre Versus Arthritis, School of Primary, Community and Social Care, Keele University, Keele, UK

    Edward Roddy

  3. Haywood Academic Rheumatology Centre, Haywood Hospital, Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, Stoke-on-Trent, UK

    Edward Roddy

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Dehlin, M., Jacobsson, L. & Roddy, E. Global epidemiology of gout: prevalence, incidence, treatment patterns and risk factors. Nat Rev Rheumatol 16, 380–390 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41584-020-0441-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41584-020-0441-1

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