FRI0244 Life style factors and comorbidities in gout patients compared to the general population

Abstract

Background: Gout is the most common inflammatory arthritis and relatively much is known regarding its pathogenesis. It is clear that life style factors play a significant role in developing and maintaining disease. Objectives: This study aimed to analyse lifestyle factors in prevalent gout patients by sex compared to age matched controls from the general population. Methods: All patients above 18 years of age with an ICD 10-diagnosis of gout from Jan 2015 through Feb 2017 listed at any of twelve randomly selected primary health care centres or the rheumatology department at Sahlgrenska University hospital in the Western Sweden Health Care Region (WSHCR) were identified. They were sent a questionnaire, regarding demographics, life style factors such as smoking status, alcohol consumption, physical activity, body mass index (BMI; categorised into 4 levels in the analyses) and comorbidities such as diabetes and hypertension. All responders aged 18-84 years were matched to five control individuals, without gout, by sex and age. Control individuals were selected from a random sample of 52 348 individuals aged 16-84 years who participated in the National Public Health survey in Sweden year 2015 This survey is a national study on health, lifestyle and living conditions. Alcohol consumption was categorised as none and any with/without binge drinking behaviour. Binge drinking was (liberally) defined as consuming more than four (women) or five glasses (men) on any occasion. Conditional logistic regression models were used to compare cases and controls with regard to lifestyle factors and comorbidities. Multivariate analyses were also performed, including BMI, smoking status, alcohol consumption, and physical activity. Results: Of the 1589 invited gout patients, 868 responded and 79.7% were male. Non-responders were more often young men. Mean age was 69.3 (std:10.5) years for men and 71.8 (std: 9.9) years for women with gout. Male gout patients were in multivariate analyses more likely to be overweight (OR 1.67 (95% CI: 1.31-2.14)), obese (OR 2.20 (95% CI: 1.64-2.94)), have binge drink behaviour (OR 3.32 (95% CI: 2.39-4.62)), and had lower levels of physical activity compared to controls (table 1). Current smoking habits did not differ between male gout patients and controls. Female gout patients were in multivariate analyses more likely to be overweight (OR 1.87 (95% CI: 1.05-3.33)), obese (OR 3.62 (95% CI: 1.96-6.72)), and have binge drink behaviour (OR 4.28 (95% CI: 1.92-9.53)), but not did not differ with regard to current smoking habits or physical activity compared to controls. In bivariate analyses, comorbidities such as diabetes and hypertension, were significantly more common in gout patients among both sexes. Conclusions: Compared to the general population, patients with gout were more often obese (in particular women) and had higher occurrence of binge drinking behaviour (in particular men). The lower level of physical activity (men) and normal frequency of smoking among gout patients may be a consequence of the high comorbidity rates (Table Presented).