title: Perceptions of disease and health-related quality of life among patients with gout.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the impact of gout on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among patients in three large US cities.
  
  
  METHODS
  Gout patients completed the Short Form-36 (SF-36) and a series of questions regarding their gout, comorbidities and demographics. Their physicians confirmed the gout diagnosis and evaluated the severity of patient's gout. The differences in mean norm-based SF-36 scores between the US norms and gout patients and between subgroups of gout patients were calculated. The relative weight and significance of gout-related characteristics associated with patients' HRQoL were also calculated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The majority of the patients were males with a mean age of 62.2 years and median disease duration of 13.8 years. Most were overweight/obese with several comorbidities. Half of the patients experienced three or more gout attacks per year with a typical gout attack involving five joints and lasting for at least 4 days. The Physical Component Summary (PCS) and Mental Component Summary (MCS) was significantly lower for gout patients (P < 0.002 and P < 0.001, respectively). Among gout patients, the mean PCS and MCS were lower for those with more frequent gout attacks and greater number of affected joints (P < 0.005 and P < 0.001, respectively). After adjusting for age, gender and comorbidities, the number of joints involved during a typical and the worst gout attack had the greatest impact on patient's PCS and MCS.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Gout patients had clinically significant lower HRQoL than their age-matched US norm. Comorbidities and several additional gout-related factors significantly impacted the overall HRQoL.
authors.affiliation: San Diego Veterans Affairs Medical Center, San Diego, CA, USA. s2lee@ucsd.edu
authors.forename: Susan J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Jan D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Hirsch
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Terkeltaub
authors.forename: Dinesh
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Khanna
authors.forename: Jasvinder A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sarkin
authors.forename: Arthur
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kavanaugh
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health; D015992:Body Mass Index; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005260:Female; D006073:Gout / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010147:Pain Measurement; D011379:Prognosis; D011788:Quality of Life; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology