Smoking Found to Cut Gout Risk

Cigarette smoking is associated with a decreased risk of incident gout, particularly among men, according to a new study published online in Rheumatology.

Weiqi Wang, PhD, and Eswar Krishnan, MD, MPH, of Stanford University School of Medicine in Palo Alto, Calif., analyzed 54-year follow-up data (1948-2002) for 2,279 men and 2,785 women who were gout-free at their first assessment as part of the Framingham Heart Study.

The researchers identified 399 incident cases of gout (249 men and 150 women) over 151,058 person-years of observation. In multivariable analyses, cigarette smoking was associated with a 24% decreased risk of incident gout overall, a 32% decreased risk among men, and an 8% decreased risk among women, after adjusting for age, body mass index, alcohol intake, diabetes, hypertension, kidney disease, Drs. Wang and Krishnan reported.

From the November 01, 2014 Issue of Renal and Urology News