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Drinking alcohol? Be prepared for gout attacks!
28/Sep/2006: A new study carried out by researchers from Boston University, has found that consumption of alcohol, even in small quantities can trigger painful gout attacks in some people.
Gout, also known as gouty arthritis, is a form of inflammatory arthritis, caused by accumulation of uric acid crystals in bone joints. Gout usually affects the big toe of the foot and it causes excruciating pain and swelling.
Yuqing Zhang, the study investigator from the Boston University, said that the gout-triggering effect of alcohol occurs within a short period of time from consuming alcoholic drinks. He added that patients suffering from gout should avoid drinking alcohol to prevent painful gout attacks.
Even though many therapies are available for treating gout, patients continue to suffer from recurrent attacks. There is a general belief in the medical community that consumption of alcohol is responsible for triggering gout attacks, but this hypothesis had never been formally tested, till now.
Yuqing Zhang and his colleagues from Boston University studied 179 patients who had a gout attack within the previous year. They found that consumption of alcohol, even in small quantities, was enough to trigger gout attacks in some of these patients.
Individuals who drank five to six drinks within a 48-hour period were more likely to suffer from recurrent gout attacks, when compared to non-drinkers. The odds for a recurrent gout attack in those who drank seven or more drinks in a 2-day period was 2.5 times higher when compared to those whose abstain from alcohol.
The findings of this study were published in the ‘American Journal of Medicine’. Alcoholic beverages like beer, wine and spirit are more likely to trigger recurrent gout attacks on those who consume them.
K Siva
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