title: Prevalence and incidence of gout in southern Sweden from the socioeconomic perspective.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To estimate the prevalence and cumulative incidence of gout in southern Sweden with respect to socioeconomic status.
  
  
  METHODS
  Among residents of Skåne region in the year 2013 (total population 1.3 million), adult persons (age 18 years +) who between 1998 and 2013 received a diagnosis of gout (International Classification of Disease 10th Edition (ICD-10) code M10) by any physician were identified using the Skåne Healthcare Register. We calculated the point prevalence by end of 2013 and annual cumulative incidence in 2013 standardised to the whole Skåne population according to sex, individual information on occupation (white collar/blue collar), income (low/middle/high) and level of education (primary school/high school/university).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The crude 2013 point prevalence of gout and 2013 cumulative incidence (95% CI) were 1.69% (1.66% to 1.71%) and 24 cases per 10 000 persons (23-25), respectively. Compared to women, men had higher point prevalence (2.44% (2.40% to 2.49%) vs 0.96% (0.93% to 0.98%)) and higher annual cumulative incidence (33 cases per 10 000 (32-35)) versus 15 (14-16)). These figures increased with higher age but decreased with higher level of education, being the lowest in individuals with a university degree. Persons with middle income had highest point prevalence and cumulative incidence of gout, while those with white collar occupations had the lowest.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Gout is the most common inflammatory arthritis in southern Sweden with a prevalence of ∼1.7% in the adult population. There is a socioeconomic gradient with more gout present in the lower level of education and with more manual labour.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Sciences, Lund, Section for Rheumatology , Lund University, Lund and Skåne University Hospital, Section for Rheumatology in Lund and Malmö , Lund , Sweden.
authors.forename: Meliha C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Kapetanovic
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Sciences, Lund, Section for Rheumatology , Lund University, Lund and Skåne University Hospital, Section for Rheumatology in Lund and Malmö , Lund , Sweden.
authors.forename: Mohaned
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hameed
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, Department of Clinical Sciences Lund, Orthopedics, Clinical Epidemiology Unit , Lund University , Lund , Sweden.
authors.forename: Aleksandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Turkiewicz
authors.affiliation: Clinical Epidemiology Research and Training Unit , Boston University School of Medicine , Boston, Massachusetts , USA.
authors.forename: Tuhina
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-9515-1711
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Neogi
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Sciences, Lund, Section for Rheumatology , Lund University, Lund and Skåne University Hospital, Section for Rheumatology in Lund and Malmö , Lund , Sweden.
authors.forename: Tore
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Saxne
authors.affiliation: Department of Rheumatology & Inflammation Research , Institute of Medicine, The Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg , Gothenburg , Sweden.
authors.forename: Lennart
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jacobsson
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, Department of Clinical Sciences Lund, Orthopedics, Clinical Epidemiology Unit, Lund University, Lund, Sweden; Clinical Epidemiology Research and Training Unit, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Englund
keywords: Epidemiology; Gout; Outcomes research