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Healthcare burden of in‐hospital gout
Author(s) -
Lee G.,
Roberts L.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
internal medicine journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.596
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1445-5994
pISSN - 1444-0903
DOI - 10.1111/j.1445-5994.2012.02747.x
Subject(s) - medicine , gout , medical diagnosis , demographics , disease , health care , emergency medicine , intensive care medicine , pediatrics , physical therapy , demography , pathology , sociology , economics , economic growth
The disease burden of inpatient gout has not been reported. Using a discharge diagnosis database and individual case record review, 77 patients who developed acute gout complicating a hospital admission for another reason were identified between J anuary 2001 and A pril 2010 at The T ownsville H ospital. A control group of 28 301 cases with identical principal diagnoses were similarly ascertained, along with a subgroup of 231 cases matched for age, gender and ethnicity. Patients with an admission complicated by acute gout stayed 6 days longer in hospital than matched control patients (9 days vs 3 days, P = 0.0005) with the same principal diagnoses and demographics. Patients with an attack of gout were more likely to be older, male or indigenous. Early diagnosis and appropriate treatment may help to reduce the healthcare costs of this overlooked disease.