Gout is on the rise but sufferers can do more to manage the condition
Gout is on the rise, but if patients stuck to the treatment, the painful inflammatory arthritis could be controlled, writes Sunory Dutt
If a disease is highly treatable, even curable, you'd think sufferers would be doing all they can to rid themselves of it. But people who have gout, the world's most common form of inflammatory arthritis that often manifests in the big toe joint, don't seem to be getting cured.
Rates of gout are soaring in Britain, with about one in 40 affected - the highest incidence in Europe. But treatment remains as poor as it was in the late 1990s, according to a study published in January in the .
The more often an attack, the higher the chance of permanent joint damage
The study, which analysed long-term primary care medical records of about 4.5 million of the British population, found that between 1997 and 2012, the prevalence of gout rose by 64 per cent, increasing by about 4 per cent every year.
Yet only a third of people with gout were being treated with urate-lowering drugs, a percentage that remained constant over the entire period.
In Hong Kong, statistics on the prevalence of gout locally are scarce. The most recent data available was the Health Department 2000-2001 annual report, which stated a gout prevalence of 5 per cent to 6 per cent.
Dr Eric Chak Hing-chung, a specialist in orthopaedics and traumatology at Central Consultative Clinic, says Hongkongers have a low level of awareness and insufficient knowledge on the complications or the deformity that can result from gouty arthritis. Patients only consult specialists in their acute stage.
