A comparison of gout in men and women. A 10-year experience

Area of Science:

• Rheumatology
• Clinical Medicine
• Epidemiology

Background:

• Gout is a common inflammatory arthritis.
• Understanding sex-based differences in gout presentation is crucial for timely diagnosis and management.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the clinical features of gout in men and women.
• To identify distinct patterns of disease onset, progression, and associated comorbidities between sexes.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective study of hospital patients and arthritis clinic outpatients.
• Analysis of clinical data including age of onset, disease duration, joint involvement, and presence of tophi.

Main Results:

• Men exhibit a stereotyped gout pattern: early onset, prolonged mono-arthritis of the big toe, progressing to tophaceous polyarticular disease.
• Women often present with polyarticular/tophaceous gout as the initial manifestation, with involvement of joints other than the big toe and a shorter duration before tophi.
• Diuretic use, hypertension, and chronic renal failure are more frequent in women with gout.

Conclusions:

• Clinical presentation of gout significantly differs between men and women.
• These sex-specific differences impact diagnostic approaches and highlight the importance of considering comorbidities in women.