This Article Free upon publication Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Alderman, M. H. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Alderman, M. H. Pubmed/NCBI databases Compound via MeSH Substance via MeSH Medline Plus Health Information Gout Joint Disorders Related Collections Cerebrovascular disease/stroke Risk Factors Epidemiology Related Article

(Circulation. 2007;116:880-883.)
© 2007 American Heart Association, Inc.

Editorial

Podagra, Uric Acid, and Cardiovascular Disease

Michael H. Alderman, MD

From the Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY.

Correspondence to Dr Michael H. Alderman, Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1300 Morris Park Ave, Bronx, NY 10461. E-mail alderman@aecom.yu.edu

Key Words: Editorials • cardiovascular diseases • epidemiology • gout • uric acid

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

Hippocrates would not be surprised to read that persons with gout had higher mortality, and particularly cardiovascular-related mortality, than persons without gout.¹ On the other hand, he might well have been bemused, nearly 2500 years after he described the syndrome, that this made news.

Article p 894

He should not have been. All too often, rigorous examination debunks conventional wisdom. Reassuringly, in this case, Drs Choi and Curhan found evidence to support long-standing belief. These dedicated and productive students of the pathogenesis and natural history of gout have here reported empiric data from the 51 000 male nonphysician health professionals who participated in the Health Professions Follow-up Study. From initial examination in 1986 through nearly 600 000 person-years of follow-up, 5825 deaths occurred, of which 2132 were cardiovascular and 1576 were ascribed to coronary heart disease, rates that attest to the generally good health of the group.

The 6% prevalence of gout, at baseline, in men in their mid-50s, who mirror the general US population in body mass index, reported history of hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, and diabetes mellitus, was higher than expected. Interim biennial questionnaires identified incident cases of gout. Participants with gout were both more likely to report coronary heart disease (CHD) at baseline and, regardless of CHD status, more likely than gout-free persons to have cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors. Results were presented after stratification by CHD status at baseline. As expected, the incidence of all-cause and CHD mortality was much greater in those with than in those without . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Related Article:

Issue Highlights
Circulation 2007 116: 879. [Extract] [Full Text]

This article has been cited by other articles:

				P. L. Riches, A. F. Wright, and S. H. Ralston Recent insights into the pathogenesis of hyperuricaemia and gout Hum. Mol. Genet., October 15, 2009; 18(R2): R177 - R184. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]