For young men, changes in metabolic syndrome (MetS) are associated with an altered risk for incident gout, according to a study published in Arthritis & Rheumatology. Yeonghee Eun, MD, PhD, and colleagues examined the associations between MetS changes and incident gout in a cohort of men aged 20-39 who participated in serial health checkups. A total of 18,473 of the nearly 1.3 million individuals were diagnosed with gout (incidence rate, 3.36/1,000 person-years). Compared with individuals who were MetS-free (no MetS at three health checkups), those with chronic MetS (MetS at all three health checkups) had almost a four-fold higher risk for incident gout (adjusted HR, 3.82). MetS development was associated with a more than two-fold increased risk for incident gout (aHR, 2.31). In contrast, the risk for incident gout was almost halved with recovery from MetS (aHR, 0.52). The greatest association with altered risk for gout was seen for the MetS components of changes in elevated triglycerides and abdominal obesity.
