Diabetes mellitus as a risk factor and comorbidity in gout

Abstract

Introduction: Metabolic disorders are a public health issue because of the complications they cause, but they are also a major risk factor for the onset of gout. Aim: The current study set out to demonstrate clinically how the clinical-paraclinical evaluation methodology had advanced as well as to assess comorbidity in gout patients using diabetes mellitus (DM). We also wanted to examine the pancreatic dysfunction in gout patients of different ages (by assessing the glucose and glycolated Hb analyses). Materials and methods: Two hundred gout patients (mean age, men 60±8.0 years, women 63±9.0 years) were included in a descriptive, cross-sectional study. The diagnosis of gout was made according to the classification criteria for gout according to ACR and EULAR 2015. The raw data were analyzed using SPSS v. 26.0. Results: In the study, type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) was encountered with a comparable frequency among both middle-aged and elderly patients (33.8% and 41.8%, respectively, p=0.26). In only 15% of cases, DM2 preceded the development of gout (in 3% with the beginning and 12% with late onset), while the developmental age of the DM2 prior to gout was comparable (50.9±2.8 years in age group 1 and 55.1±6.9 years in age group 2). We found that elderly people experience gout much more frequently (up to 41%) when DM2 is present. However, DM2 is not considered a predictor of gout. Conclusions: In gout patients under the age of 59 inclusive, the mean age at diabetes onset is significantly lower than the age (37.49.6 years) at which diabetes develops in the general population. Early onset of diabetes is associated with early development of gout.