It has been known that gout increases the risk of ischemic heart disease and mortality. A new study showed that gout is also associated with an increase risk of heart-failure hospitalization and death.
In Montreal, Quebec, Canadian researchers performed an analysis of 25 000 heart-failure patients to identify factors that was linked to the increase risk of heart-failure hospitalizations and death. They also investigated whether those patients who had gout and had used allopurinol were associated with better outcome.
Using statistical modeling, the researchers found that heart-failure patients who have a remote history of gout and an acute episode of gout were twice as likely to experience heart-failure re-hospitalization or to die (ARR = 1.63, p<0.001; and ARR=2.06, p<0.001, respectively).
Furthermore, heart-failure patients who had gout and had used allopurinol had their heart-failure re-hospitalization or death cut by 30%.
However, readers should be cautioned that this analysis was conducted among heart-failure patients with gout. The benefits of allopurinol might or might not apply to gout patients without heart failure.
Source: Arch Intern Med 2010; 170:1358-1364.
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