SAT0735-HPR Sex differences in illness perceptions and self-management in patients with gout

Abstract

Background: Illness perceptions are important and can influence all aspects of management in chronic diseases. Differences in gender aspects of illness perceptions have been shown for other diseases, but have scarcely been examined in gout. Lifestyle and dietary adjustments are principal components of self-management of gout. Objectives: to examine illness perception, self-management strategies and advice from healthcare professionals in Swedish patients with gout by sex. Methods: All patients above 18 with diagnose of gout were identified from 12 primary centres (serving a population of 1 00 000 inhabitants) and one rheumatology clinic within western Sweden. Patients were sent a questionnaire including gout characteristics, demographics, illness perception questionnaire (B-IPQ), questions about diet, alcohol and advice from health care professionals. Ageadjusted differences between sexes were analysed in logistic regression models Results: Of 1589 individuals with a gout diagnosis, 868 (69,3%) responded to the survey. The proportion of men was 80%. Mean age was 70 years for men and 75 years for women. Women reported modest but significant worse illness perception with regard to severity of disease, identity, concerns and emotional response (see table 1). Women had made more dietary food changes, whereas there was no difference regarding changes in alcohol reduction. Advice from health personal regarding dietary changes had more often been given to men (53% vs 22%) and among obese patients (BMI >30 kg/m2) more men (65% vs 47%) had been given advice about weight reduction. Conclusions: Men with gout perceive their illness as less serious and are less likely to make dietary adjustments compared to women, despite been given more lifestyle advice from health care personal. There may be a need to focus more on how advices regarding disease and life style changes are given from a gender perspective for achieving optimal results.