Gout and hyperlipidaemia

Abstract

A comparison of the fasting serum lipid levels of 50 patients with gout, 50 healthy equally obese subjects, and an equal number of healthy subjects not matched for obesity showed no difference between their mean serum cholesterol levels, and though the highest mean triglyceride level was seen in the gouty subjects, this value was not significantly different from that of the subjects matched for obesity. The subjects not matched for obesity were significantly leaner than the other 2 groups and their mean triglyceride was significantly lower than that of the gouty patients. A correlation between obesity and triglyceride levels was shown in the gouty subjects. These observations suggest that the high serum triglyceride values seen in gout are related to obesity. The gouty patients who drank alcohol excessively had a mean serum triglyceride that was higher than that of their obesity matched controls and than that of the non drinking gouty patients. An effect of alcohol abuse is therefore another likely contributory factor to hypertriglyceridemia accompanying gout. No relationship could be shown between serum triglyceride and abnormal liver function, uric acid excretion, or previous drug treatment.