Objective: To determine whether the prevalence of gout and/or clinically significant hyperuricemia increased in a managed care population over 10 years.
Methods: The study was a descriptive analysis utilizing an administrative claims database to ascertain 10-year trends in prevalence of gout and/or hyperuricemia. Prevalence rates were calculated cross-sectionally for each year (1990-99) and expressed/compared as rates per 1000 enrollees.
Results: The prevalence of gout and/or hyperuricemia in the overall population increased by about 2 cases per 1000 enrollees over 10 years. In the > 75 year age group, rates increased from 21 per 1000 persons in 1990 to 41 per 1000 in 1999. In the 65-74 year age group, prevalence increased from between 21 and 24 per 1000 persons in the years 1990-92 to over 31 per 1000 during the years 1997-99. Prevalence rates in younger age groups (< 65 years) stayed consistently low during the years under study. There were sex differences in most age groups, with men having the greater burden of disease at every time point.
Conclusion: Prevalence of gout and/or hyperuricemia in the overall study population increased during the 10-year period. When stratified by age, there were increases in prevalence among groups over age 65 in both sexes. Although gout prevalence increased in both sexes over the 10-year period, men still had most of the burden of disease. In ages younger than 65, men had 4 times higher prevalence than women (4:1 ratio), but in the older age groups (> 65), the gender gap narrowed to 1 woman to every 3 men with gout and/or hyperuricemia (3:1 ratio).