The misdiagnosis of gout and hyperuricemia

Of 9,108 consecutive new patients seen in an outpatient rheumatology clinic, 155 (1.7%) were diagnosed as having gout. But 164 (1.8%) had been incorrectly diagnosed as having gout in the community. Misdiagnosis was more likely in those with psoriatic arthritis (odds ratio 3.841, 1.944-7.590) and pseudogout (odds ratio 4.152, 2.422-7.119) and less common in patients with nonspecific arthralgias (odds ratio 0.536, 0.326-0.881). Seventy-six percent of incorrectly diagnosed patients received allopurinol while slightly more than 15% were treated with uricosuric agents.