Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2014 Aug;73(8):1470-6.
doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2013-204647. Epub 2014 Mar 3.

The global burden of gout: estimates from the Global Burden of Disease 2010 study

Emma Smith  1 , Damian Hoy  2 , Marita Cross  1 , Tony R Merriman  3 , Theo Vos  4 , Rachelle Buchbinder  5 , Anthony Woolf  6 , Lyn March  1
Affiliations
Review

The global burden of gout: estimates from the Global Burden of Disease 2010 study

Emma Smith et al. Ann Rheum Dis. 2014 Aug.

Abstract

Objective: Gout is the most common cause of inflammatory arthritis in men, but has not previously been included in Global Burden of Disease (GBD) studies. As part of the GBD 2010 Study, the Musculoskeletal Disorders and Risk Factors Expert Group estimated the global burden of gout.

Methods: The American Rheumatism Association 1977 case definition of primary gout was used in the study. A series of systematic reviews were conducted to gather the age-specific and sex-specific epidemiological data for gout prevalence, incidence, mortality risk and duration. Two main disabling sequelae of gout were identified; acute episode gout and chronic polyarticular gout, and used in the surveys to collect data to derive disability weights. The epidemiological data together with disability weights were then used to calculate years of life lived with disability (YLDs) for gout, for 1990 and 2010. No evidence of cause-specific mortality associated with gout was found. Gout disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), therefore, have the same value as YLDs.

Results: Global prevalence of gout was 0.08% (95% uncertainty interval (UI) 0.07 to 0.08). DALYs increased from 76 000 (95% UI 48 to 112) in 1990 to 114 000 (95% UI 72 to 167) in 2010. Out of all 291 conditions studied in the GBD 2010 Study, gout ranked 138th in terms of disability as measured by YLDs, and 173rd in terms of overall burden (DALYs).

Conclusions: The burden of gout is rising. With increasing ageing populations globally, this evidence is a significant prompt to optimise treatment and management of gout at individual, community and national levels.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

LinkOut - more resources