In a recent study published in BMJ Open, researchers found patients with gout are at increased risk of chronic kidney disease and kidney failure.
They found patients recruited in general practice with a diagnosis of gout were more than twice as likely to develop kidney failure than those without.
The study is from the University of Limerick in Ireland. One author of the study is Professor Austin Stack.
The largest and most detailed study ever published on this subject used data from more than 620,000 patients in the UK health system.
It showed that gout patients were also more likely to suffer a short-term deterioration in kidney function, as well as a sustained deterioration of function to less than 10% of normal, compared to patients without gout.
In the study, researchers analyzed the risk of advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD) in 68,897 gout patients followed for an average of 3.7 years and compared them to 554,964 patients without gout.
They defined advanced kidney disease based on four specific criteria; the need for dialysis or kidney transplant; failing kidney function to less than 10% of normal; doubling of serum creatinine from baseline; and death associated with CKD.
Overall, the team discovered that patients who suffered from gout had a 29% higher risk of advanced CKD compared to those without gout.
When they looked at the risk of kidney failure and those who needed dialysis or a kidney transplant, they found that gouts patients had more than a 200% higher risk of kidney failure than those without gout.
The study sheds new light on the importance and potential impact of gout on kidney function.
Although previous studies have shown that gout patients have a higher burden of kidney disease, none has convincingly shown that gout can contribute to the development of kidney failure.
Gout is the most common inflammatory arthritis which causes severe pain and suffering due to a build-up of uric acid in joints.
It affects almost 2.5 % of the adult population and causes significant pain and disability due to its effects on joints, tendons and bone.
Treatments that lower uric acid levels in the bloodstream are effective in preventing both the acute flares of gout and the long-term damage it causes in joints, however current evidence shows that gout remains poorly managed in the population.
The result of this new research suggests that gout may also play an important role in the progression of kidney disease.
The identification of gout as a potential risk factor opens up new opportunities for the prevention of kidney disease and its consequences.
If you care about kidney health, please read studies about these unhealthy eating habits may increase your risk of dangerous kidney disease and findings of these diabetes drugs may effectively lower kidney and heart diseases.
For more information about kidney disease, please see recent studies about how to protect against kidney disease and results showing that some common vegetables may reduce diabetes-related kidney damage.
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