Comorbidity of gout and rheumatoid arthritis in a large population database

Coexistence of rheumatoid arthritis and gout is considered to be unusual. The current study was designed as a population-based cross-sectional study, utilizing the medical database of Clalit Health Services, the largest healthcare provider organization in Israel. Data of adult patients who were previously diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis was retrieved. For each patient, five age- and sex-matched control patients were randomly selected. Different parameters including BMI, socioeconomic status, and existence of gout as well as smoking and hypertension were examined for both groups. The study included 11,540 patients with rheumatoid arthritis and 56,763 controls. The proportion of gout in the study group was high compared to controls (1.61 vs. 0.92%, P < 0.001). In a multivariate analysis, rheumatoid arthritis was associated with gout (OR = 1.72, 95% CI 1.45–2.05, P = 0.00). The proportion of gout in rheumatoid arthritis patients is not lower than in the general population.