Gout Prevention

Information on Gout

An Overview of Gout Prevention

Doctors cannot always explain why one person gets gout and another person does not. However, scientists have studied the general patterns of gout in the population to learn what things around us, and what things we do in our lives, may increase our chances of having a gout attack.

Anything that increases a person's chance of developing a disease is called a risk factor. Gout prevention means knowing gout risk factors, then doing something about the ones that you can control.

Preventing Gout: Know the Risk Factors

The first step in preventing gout is knowing what the risk factors for gout are. Some gout risk factors can be avoided, but many cannot. For example, men are more likely to develop gout, a risk factor which obviously cannot be changed.

Studies have identified the following gout risk factors:

A family history of gout
Being male
Being overweight or obese (see BMI Calculator to learn if your weight is within a healthy range)
Drinking too much alcohol
Eating too many foods rich in purines (see Gout Diet for foods high in purines)
Being exposed to lead in the environment
Having had an organ transplant
Having any of the following conditions:

Psoriasis
Diabetes insipidus
High blood pressure (hypertension)
Diabetic ketoacidosis or lactic acidosis
Sarcoidosis
Preeclampsia (also known as toxemia of pregnancy)
Down syndrome
Hypothyroidism
Glucose-6-phosphatase deficiency
Fructose-1-phosphate deficiency
Kidney problems, including renal insufficiency or polycystic kidney disease.

Using some medicines, including:

Diuretics (water pills)
Salicylates, such as aspirin
Niacin (nicotinic acid, Niaspan^®, Niacor^®, Nicolar^®)
Cyclosporine (Gengraf^®, Neoral^®, Sandimmune^®)
Levodopa (Larodopa^®).

(Gout Prevention Continued: Page 2)