Effects of Alcohol Consumption on the Risk of Gout

A recent meta-analysis assessed the effects of alcohol consumption on the risk of developing gout. A total of 12 articles with 17 studies involving 42,924 cases met the inclusion criteria.

• Pooled relative risk (RR) for light alcohol consumption (defined as ≤1 drink in a day) versus abstention or occasional consumption was 1.16.
• Moderate (>1 to <3 drinks in a day) and heavy consumption (≥3 drinks in a day) had RRs of 1.58 and 2.64, respectively.
• Essentially all of the studies reviewed showed an increase in risk of gout for heavy drinking.

Comments:

Considerable research has shown that alcohol intake, especially heavier drinking, increases serum uric acid levels and the risk of gout. Further, it has been shown that, among patients with gout, the risk of an attack is higher during the two days after alcohol consumption, especially among patients with gout who do not have good control of their hyperuricemia with allopurinol or other medications. The authors point out that they were unable to evaluate the effects of different beverage types; some previous analyses suggest that the risk is lower for the consumption of wine than it is for other beverages containing alcohol, especially beer. The analytic methodology in this paper was appropriate, and the data suggest that even light drinking is associated with a modest increase in the risk of gout.

R. Curtis Ellison, MD

Reference:

Wang M, Jiang X, Wu W, Zhang D. A meta-analysis of alcohol consumption and the risk of gout. Clin Rheumatol. 2013;32:1641–1648.