What is Gout?

What is Gout?

• Gout: Painful joints, most commonly the big toe.
• Gout: Arthritis, especially of the great toe, as a result of gout. Acute gouty arthritis often is precipitated by trauma, infection, surgery, etc. The initial attacks are usually monoarticular but later attacks are often polyarticular.
  Source - Diseases Database
• Gout: a painful inflammation of the big toe and foot caused by defects in uric acid metabolism resulting in deposits of the acid and its salts in the blood and joints.
  Source - WordNet 2.1

Gout: Introduction

Types of Gout:

Types of Gout:

• Podagra - the name for gout in the big toe; about 75% of cases.
• Subtype categories based on progression and severity:
  • Asymptomatic hyperuricemia - early stage without any symptoms.
  • Acute gout - also called acute gouty arthritis; sudden attacks of gout symptoms of joint pain and swelling.
  • Intercritical gout - the symptom-free stage between attacks of acute gout.
  • Chronic tophaceous gout - the most advanced stage.
• more types...»

Broader types of Gout:

• Rheumatic conditions
• Arthritis
• Crystal-induced arthritis (type of Rheumatic conditions)
• Ankle conditions
• Knee conditions
• Hip conditions
• Pain conditions
• Non-pathogenic inflammatory conditions
• Arthritis-like conditions
• Joint conditions
• Limb conditions
• Musculoskeletal conditions
• Senior health conditions
• more types...»

How many people get Gout?

Prevalance of Gout: 275 per 100,000 people (NIAMS)
Prevalance Rate of Gout: approx 1 in 363 or 0.28% or 748,000 people in USA [about data]

Who gets Gout?

Patient Profile for Gout: Typically men 40's/50's or older. Rare in children or young adults.

Gender Profile for Gout: More common in men and earlier in men. Women usually only after menopause.

How serious is Gout?

Prognosis of Gout: Good prognosis with adequate treatment.
Complications of Gout: see complications of Gout

What causes Gout?

Causes of Gout: see causes of Gout
Cause of Gout: Deposits of uric acid crystals in the joints.
Risk factors for Gout: see risk factors for Gout

What are the symptoms of Gout?

Symptoms of Gout: see symptoms of Gout

Complications of Gout: see complications of Gout

Gout: Testing

Diagnostic testing: see tests for Gout.

Misdiagnosis: see misdiagnosis and Gout.

How is it treated?

Doctors and Medical Specialists for Gout: General practitioner, Primary care physician, Rheumatologists, Orthopedic surgeon, Dietician, General surgeon, Physiotherapist, Psychologist, Genetic disease specialist, Radiologist ; see also doctors and medical specialists for Gout.
Treatments for Gout: see treatments for Gout
Alternative treatments for Gout: see alternative treatments for Gout
Research for Gout: see research for Gout

Society issues for Gout

Hospitalization statistics for Gout: The following are statistics from various sources about hospitalizations and Gout:

• 0.025% (3,249) of hospital consultant episodes were for gout in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
• 76% of hospital consultant episodes for gout required hospital admission in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
• 68% of hospital consultant episodes for gout were for men in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
• 32% of hospital consultant episodes for gout were for women in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
• 79% of hospital consultant episodes for gout required emergency hospital admission in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
• 9.3 days was the mean length of stay in hospitals for gout in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
• 5 days was the median length of stay in hospitals for gout in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
• more statistics...»

Organs Affected by Gout:

Organs and body systems related to Gout include:

• Big toe
• Toes
• Joints
• Ankle
• Hip
• Knee
• Knuckle
• Wrist

Name and Aliases of Gout

Main name of condition: Gout

Gouty arthritis, Podagra, Uric acid crystal deposition in joint, Urate crystal arthropathy Source - Diseases Database

Gouty arthritis, Urarthritis
Source - WordNet 2.1

Gout: Related Conditions

Research the causes of these diseases that are similar to, or related to, Gout:

• Uric acid metabolism
• Chronic tophaceous gout
• Tophaceous gout
• Gouty arthritis
• Primary gout
• Secondary gout
• Acute gout
• Chronic gout
• Pseudogout
• Polyarticular gout
• Saturnine gout
• Hyperuricemia
• Cyclosporin A
• Acute monoarticular arthritis

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