Rates of gout continue to rise in UK, but GP care has not improved

Although the prevalence of gout in the United Kingdom has risen by about two thirds over the past 15 years, the care provided by GPs for the condition has “remained essentially the same” and of a poor standard, says a study in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

The research found that the UK now had the highest prevalence of gout in Europe, with one in 40 people having been given a diagnosis.1 However, the proportion of patients with gout being treated with urate lowering drugs has remained constant over the past 15 years, at just a third.

Researchers from the University of Nottingham used the Clinical Practice Research Datalink to estimate the prevalence …