Common gout drug tied to lower risk of early death in study

By Robert Preidt
Contributing Writer

(Special from HealthDay News and NorthStarNews.com) — A drug often used to treat gout may reduce the risk of premature death in patients with this common form of arthritis, according to a new study. Gout is more common in Black men compared to white men, according to the Website, WebMD.

More than three in 1,000 Black men suffer from gout compared to less than two in 1, 000 white men. Gout is more common Black men because of their risk of getting high blood pressure and the medicines used to treat high blood pressure make gout more likely, WebMD reported.

Previous research has associated gout with an increased risk of early death. This study examined how allopurinol—the most widely used medication for gout—might affect that risk.

A foot with gout. Black men suffer from higher rates of gout because
of high blood pressure and the oral medications needed to treat disease.

Allopurinol causes a potentially fatal reaction in about one of 260 patients who uses the drug, which has made some doctors reluctant to prescribe it, according to background information in the study.

The researchers looked at data from over 5,900 gout patients in the United Kingdom who were prescribed allopurinol and compared them to a group of gout patients who did not take the drug.

Patients who took allopurinol were 11 percent less likely to die from all causes during the study period than those who did not take the medication. Overall, taking allopurinol reduced gout patients’ risk of death by 19 percent, according to the study published online March 25 in the journal Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

“These risk reductions were apparent from the first year and throughout the subsequent years of follow-up,” lead author Dr. Maureen Dubreuil, an instructor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine, said in a university news release.

The findings show that taking allopurinol may not only treat gout, but may protect gout patients from premature death, she added. The results also suggest that this survival benefit may outweigh the risks of rare serious side effects, according to the news release.

The study found an association between taking allopurinol and reduced risk of early death in gout patients. It did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship.

The study was funded by the U.S. National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, the Arthritis Foundation and the VA Boston Healthcare System.

This article originally published in the April 7, 2014 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.