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Crystal arthropathies
Original article
Prevalence and incidence of gout in southern Sweden from the socioeconomic perspective
  1. Meliha C Kapetanovic1,
  2. Mohaned Hameed1,
  3. Aleksandra Turkiewicz2,
  4. Tuhina Neogi3,
  5. Tore Saxne1,
  6. Lennart Jacobsson4 and
  7. Martin Englund2,3
  1. 1Department of Clinical Sciences, Lund, Section for Rheumatology, Lund University, Lund and Skåne University Hospital, Section for Rheumatology in Lund and Malmö, Lund, Sweden
  2. 2Faculty of Medicine, Department of Clinical Sciences Lund, Orthopedics, Clinical Epidemiology Unit, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
  3. 3Clinical Epidemiology Research and Training Unit, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
  4. 4Department of Rheumatology & Inflammation Research, Institute of Medicine, The Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
  1. Correspondence to Dr Meliha C Kapetanovic; meliha.c_kapetanovic{at}med.lu.se

Abstract

Objectives To estimate the prevalence and cumulative incidence of gout in southern Sweden with respect to socioeconomic status.

Methods Among residents of Skåne region in the year 2013 (total population 1.3 million), adult persons (age 18 years +) who between 1998 and 2013 received a diagnosis of gout (International Classification of Disease 10th Edition (ICD-10) code M10) by any physician were identified using the Skåne Healthcare Register. We calculated the point prevalence by end of 2013 and annual cumulative incidence in 2013 standardised to the whole Skåne population according to sex, individual information on occupation (white collar/blue collar), income (low/middle/high) and level of education (primary school/high school/university).

Results The crude 2013 point prevalence of gout and 2013 cumulative incidence (95% CI) were 1.69% (1.66% to 1.71%) and 24 cases per 10 000 persons (23–25), respectively. Compared to women, men had higher point prevalence (2.44% (2.40% to 2.49%) vs 0.96% (0.93% to 0.98%)) and higher annual cumulative incidence (33 cases per 10 000 (32–35)) versus 15 (14–16)). These figures increased with higher age but decreased with higher level of education, being the lowest in individuals with a university degree. Persons with middle income had highest point prevalence and cumulative incidence of gout, while those with white collar occupations had the lowest.

Conclusions Gout is the most common inflammatory arthritis in southern Sweden with a prevalence of ∼1.7% in the adult population. There is a socioeconomic gradient with more gout present in the lower level of education and with more manual labour.

  • Gout
  • Epidemiology
  • Outcomes research

This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

https://doi.org/10.1136/rmdopen-2016-000326

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors The study was conceived by ME and MCK. AT retrieved the data and performed the statistical analyses. All authors have interpreted the results. MCK drafted the manuscript, and MH, AT, TS, TN, LJ and ME have revised it for important intellectual content. All coauthors have approved the final version of the manuscript for submission.

    • Funding This study was supported by grants from the Swedish Rheumatism Association, The Medical Faculty of the University of Lund, Alfred Österlund's Foundation, The Swedish Society of Medicine, Greta and Johan Kock's Foundation, The King Gustaf V Foundation and Lund University Hospital.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Ethics approval Lund University.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Data sharing statement No additional data are available.