GOUT: risk factors and treatment in general practice

Gout is a common joint inflammation that occurs in attacks. Gout is often (the advice is for patients with more than 3 attacks per year) treated with uric acid-lowering therapy (allopurinol). The clinical relevance of this therapy has not been sufficiently investigated.

Research questions

  1. What is the frequency of self-reported gout attacks?
  2. What is the effect of allopurinol on the frequency of gout attacks?
  3. What is the effect of allopurinol use on the frequency of cardiovascular disease during follow-up?

Method

We investigated this in a database with anonymous data from 7,475 gout patients from general practitioners and by following up a group of 753 patients with gout for 2 years and administering questionnaires every three months and determining the number of gout attacks.

Results

Gout has often been under-treated, the use of allopurinol appears to reduce the frequency of gout attacks and cardiovascular disease.

Articles

Patient-reported gout attack frequency and allopurinol use in general practice …

Products

Title: Gout attack frequency and allopurinol use in general practice
Author: K. van Leeuwen
Link: http://www.nhgwetenschapsdag.nl
Title: Gout: Risk factors and Treatment in Primary Care A two-year prospective cohort study
Author: van Leeuwen KDB, Bierma-Zeinstra SMA, Bindels PJE, Jacobs ML, Janssens HJEM, Sturkenboom MCJM, Koffeman AR, Luijsterburg PAJ

Subjects

General practitioner care
Primary care
Drugs
Cardiovascular diseases
Inflammations

Features

Project number:
839110014
Duration: 100%
2016
2023
Related funding round:
Huisartsengeneeskunde 2015
Project lead and secretary:
Bohnen
Responsible organisation:
Erasmus Medisch Centrum

General Practitioner care research

We need more knowledge from research into general practice, and we need to disseminate this knowledge among GPs in order to maintain the current high standards of research and care. We therefore support academicization by funding PhD research projects for GPs training to become clinical researchers.