Patients with gout are more likely to experience major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) within 30 days after incident hospitalization for acute gout, according to study findings published in ACR Open Rheumatology.
Study authors assessed the likelihood of MACE within 30 days after hospital discharge for acute gout (postdischarge period). Risk of having MACE was also evaluated within 365 days before hospitalization (index admission) and after the postdischarge period.
Study authors collected data from the Western Australian Rheumatic Disease Epidemiology Registry, specifically the Hospital Morbidity Data Collection and Death Registrations. Individuals who were hospitalized for acute gout and had subsequent hospital admissions or a death record due to MACEs were identified and included in the analysis.
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A total of 1000 individuals were identified and 941 with incident acute gout admission and documented MACEs were included in the study. The average age of participants was 76.4 years and 66.7% were men. Among the 941 individuals, 95% (n=898) experienced MACEs during the control period and 12% (n=112) experienced MACEs during the 30-day postdischarge period. The rate of MACEs during the control and postdischarge period was 0.84 and 1.45 events per person-years, respectively. Risk for MACEs was 1.7 times greater in the postdischarge vs control period.
Study limitations included the lack of dependable smoking data for the populations included in the study.
Researchers noted, “This whole-of-population study found a temporal association between gout and MACEs, in that people admitted to hospital with an incident acute attack of gout had a 70% higher risk of experiencing a MACE during the first 30 days after discharge, compared with the 365 days following the postdischarge period or 365 days prior to admission.”
Overall, they concluded, “This study provides support to the hypothesis that systemic inflammation seen in gout is associated with the increased risk of MACEs in that population.”
This article originally appeared on Rheumatology Advisor
