[The prevalence of gout and hyperuricemia among the workers of a meat-packing plant complex]

An attempt was made to study the incidence of gout and hyperuricemia among the workers of the Moscow meat-packing plant exposed to high food purine loads. Using extensive clinical material (535 men and 1121 women) the authors established that gout was diagnosed 33 times more often in men of this plant than in the muscular population of other towns of the country. Moderate hyperuricemia was revealed in every second of the examinees. Marked hyperuricemia was noted 1.8 times more often, it being 3.4 times more often in men working at this plant as compared to the whole muscular population of the country. There was a direct dependence of the level of hyperuricemia in men working in this industry on their service record. The levels of moderate hyperuricemia in all groups of men and in some groups of women directly depended on the amount of daily purine loads. Marked hyperuricemia among the examined men is a factor of risk in the development of load and among the examined women an indicator of risk (i. e. warning) of possible metabolic changes which require an adequate dietetic and therapeutic correction.