Perceptions of disease and health-related quality of life among patients with gout.
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.
Lee
Susan J
SJ
San Diego Veterans Affairs Medical Center, San Diego, CA, USA. s2lee@ucsd.edu
Hirsch
Jan D
JD
Terkeltaub
Robert
R
Khanna
Dinesh
D
Singh
Jasvinder A
JA
Sarkin
Andrew
A
Kavanaugh
Arthur
A
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