Treatment of hyperuricaemia and gout

摘要

Gout is the most prevalent inflammatory arthritis, affecting 1.4% of adults in the UK. Chronic elevation of serum uric acid (SUA), or hyperuricaemia, is required for gout to develop. Risk factors for hyperuricaemia and gout are summarised in Box 1. When the SUA level increases above the physiological saturation threshold, monosodium urate (MSU) crystals precipitate in and around peripheral joints. After a prolonged period of asymptomatic hyperuricaemia, gout typically presents clinically as an acute attack of excruciating joint pain, swelling and tenderness, commonly affecting the first metatar-sophalangeal joint.