Gout is one of the most common forms of inflammatory arthritis,
affecting nearly 4% of adult Americans. Newly approved guidelines that
educate patients in effective methods to prevent gout attacks and
provide physicians with recommended therapies for long-term management
of this painful disease are published in Arthritis
Care & Research, a peer-reviewed journal of the American
College of Rheumatology (ACR).
Uric acid is produced by the metabolism of purines, which are found in
foods and human tissue. When uric acid levels increase, crystals can
form and deposit in joints, causing excruciating pain and swelling
typical of an acute gout flare. Doctor-diagnosed gout has risen over the
past 20 years and now affects 8.3 million individuals in the U.S.,
according to a July 2011 study published in Arthritis &
Rheumatism. Medical evidence suggests that the increased prevalence
of elevated uric acid levels (hyperuricemia) and gout may be attributed
to such factors as hypertension, obesity, metabolic syndrome, type 2
diabetes, and the extensive treatment with thiazide and loop diuretics
for cardiovascular disease.
“Acute gout attacks can be debilitating and adversely affect patients’
quality of life,” says lead investigator John D. Fitzgerald, MD, PhD,
Acting Rheumatology Division Chief at the University of California, Los
Angeles (UCLA). “In order to improve patient care, the ACR funded this
collaborative effort among U.S. researchers to produce guidelines,
outlining pharmacological therapies and non-drug treatments to manage
gout.”
Dr. Fitzgerald and fellow co-leaders Drs. Robert Terkeltaub (senior and
corresponding author, from the VA and UCSD system), Dinesh Khanna and
Puja P. Khanna (from the University of Michigan and VA system) reviewed
medical literature from the 1950s to the present. A task force panel
including seven rheumatologists, two primary care physicians, a
nephrologist, and a patient representative then ranked and voted upon
recommendations to create the two-part ACR gout guidelines.
Part I guidelines focus on the systematic non-pharmacologic and
pharmacologic therapeutic approaches to hyperuricemia and include:
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Educating patients on diet, lifestyle choices, treatment objectives,
and management of concomitant diseases; this includes recommendations
on specific dietary items to encourage, limit, and avoid.
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Treating patients with a xanthine oxidase inhibitor (XOI), such as
allopurinol (Zyloprim), as first-line pharmacologic urate-lowering
therapy approach.
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Recommending that patients’ urate levels be lowered to less than 6
mg/dL, at a minimum, to improve gout symptoms.
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Suggesting that the initial dose of allopurinol be no greater than 100
mg/day, and less for patients with chronic kidney disease; followed by
gradual increase of the maintenance dose, which can exceed 300 mg even
in those with chronic kidney disease.
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Consideration of HLA-B*5801 pre-screening of patients at particularly
high risk for severe adverse reaction to allopurinol (e.g., Koreans
with stage 3 or worse kidney disease, and all those of Han Chinese and
Thai descent).
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Prescribing combination therapy, with one XOI and one uriocosuric
agent, when target urate levels are not achieved; pegloticase in
patients with severe gout disease who to not respond to standard,
appropriately dosed ULT therapy.
Part II guidelines cover therapy and prophylactic anti-inflammatory
treatment for acute gouty arthritis. These guidelines recommend that
physicians:
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Initiate pharmacologic therapy within 24 hours of onset of acute gouty
arthritis attack.
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Continue ULT therapy, without interruption, during acute gout flares.
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Use non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), corticosteroids,
or oral colchicine as first-line treatment for acute gout, and
combinations of these medications for severe or unresponsive cases.
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Utilize oral colchicine or low-dose NSAIDs as the first-line therapy
options to prevent gout attacks when initiating ULT, as long as there
is no medical contraindication or lack of tolerance.
Dr. Fitzgerald concludes, “The ACR gout guidelines are designed to
emphasize safety, quality of therapy, and to reflect best practice based
upon medical evidence available at this time. Our goal is that these
guidelines, along with educating gout patients in effective treatment,
will improve adherence, quality of care and management of this painful
and potentially chronically debilitating condition.”
