Patients with gout are at a higher risk of Covid-related death, according to a study reported in The Lancet Rheumatology.¹

Researchers sourced data from the UK Biobank for their study; of the 459,837 patients included, 15,871 patients had gout and there were 16,898 Covid-positive patients; 840 patients with gout also had Covid-19. Multivariable-adjusted logistic regression and a case-control study design was used to analyze the data.

The association between gout and diagnosis of Covid-19 and the risk for Covid-related death was evaluated in the entire cohort of 459,837 participants. The researchers also examined the risk for Covid-related death in those who died or survived with Covid-19 (n=15,772) and a subgroup of patients who had been prescribed urate-lowering therapy and colchicine.

Covid-19 was associated with gout with odds ratio of 1.20. Gout was not associated with risk for COVID-related mortality among patients diagnosed with Covid-19 (OR 1.20). Gout was associated with Covid-related death among the entire cohort (OR 1.29). Out of 15,871 patients with gout, 136 (0·9%) died with Covid-19 compared to 1111 (0·2%) in the whole group.

The prevalence of underlying medical conditions was higher in women with gout compared to men with gout; out of 2526 women, 634 had CKD and 673 had diabetes versus 1815 with CKD and 2389 with diabetes out of 13,345 men. More women with gout died with Covid-19 (1.3%) compared to men with gout (0.8%). No significant differences in the risk of Covid-related death were observed with the use of either urate-lowering therapy or colchicine.

When risk was estimated based on the vaccination status of the participants, the unvaccinated were at a higher risk of Covid-19 (OR 1.21) than the vaccinated patients (OR 1.09).

These findings suggest that gout is a risk factor for Covid-19 and also for Covid-related death. Women with gout were found to have higher covid-related mortality compared to men. Further studies are necessary to investigate the heightened risk in women with gout, say the authors.

Reference

1. Topless RK, et al. Gout and the risk of COVID-19 diagnosis and death in the UK Biobank: a population-based study. Lancet Rheumatol. 2022 Apr;4(4):e274-e281. doi: 10.1016/S2665-9913(21)00401-X.