[Gout in the past and uric arthritis today in Croatia] ]

In the past, gout was well known in these places, from Istria to Dubrovnik. Our very first dictionaries also witness about gout. Old doctors from Krapinske Toplice had also written about gout. Dr Edmund Mai, in his article published in "Lijecnicki vjesnik" in 1904 mentions "171 cases of uric arthritis". But, after that, for long 60 years there wasn't even a word about our patients, except surprise on very high incidence of the disease in the past. Even our handbooks had claimed that uric arthritis is not common in our country. In 1964 after 60 years of silence, the first article about our patients with uric arthritis, was published in "Lijecnicki vjesnik". These patients were medically treated for average of 13 years, and still were misdiagnosed. After that article, the numbers of patients with gout and articles on uric arthritis permanently rise. Today, the incidence of gout in Croatia is similar to that in other European countries.