Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
close window
Housecall Archives
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
close window
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Risk factors
By Mayo Clinic staffYou're more likely to develop gout if you have high levels of uric acid in your body. Factors that increase the uric acid level in your body include:
- Lifestyle factors. Choices you make in your everyday life may increase your risk of gout. Excessive alcohol use — generally more than two drinks a day for men and more than one for women — increases the risk of gout.
- Medical conditions. Certain diseases and conditions make it more likely that you'll develop gout. These include untreated high blood pressure (hypertension) and chronic conditions such as diabetes, high levels of fat and cholesterol in the blood (hyperlipidemia), and narrowing of the arteries (arteriosclerosis).
- Certain medications. The use of thiazide diuretics — commonly used to treat hypertension — and low-dose aspirin also can increase uric acid levels. So can the use of anti-rejection drugs prescribed for people who have undergone an organ transplant.
- Family history of gout. If other members of your family have had gout, you're more likely to develop the disease.
- Age and sex. Gout occurs more often in men than it does in women, primarily because women tend to have lower uric acid levels than men do. After menopause, however, women's uric acid levels approach those of men. Men also are more likely to develop gout earlier — usually between the ages of 40 and 50 — whereas women generally develop signs and symptoms after menopause.
References
- Gout. American College of Rheumatology. http://www.rheumatology.org/public/factsheets/diseases_and_conditions/gout.asp. Accessed Sept. 23, 2009.
- Gout. The Merck Manuals: The Merck Manual for Healthcare Professionals. http://www.merck.com/mmpe/sec04/ch035/ch035b.html. Accessed Sept. 23, 2009.
- Becker MA. Clinical manifestations and diagnosis of gout. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Sept. 23, 2009.
- Becker MA. Treatment of acute gout. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Sept. 23, 2009.
- Hayman S, et al. Gout: Is a purine-restricted diet still recommended? Journal of the American Dietetic Association. 2009;109:1652.
- Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2005. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. http://www.health.gov/DietaryGuidelines/dga2005/document/default.htm . Accessed Sept. 23, 2009.
- Demio PC. Gout. In: Rakel RE. Integrative Medicine. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2007. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/161368019-9/891013598/1494/112.html#4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-2954-0..50069-7--cesec4_3349. Accessed Sept. 23, 2009.
- Yu K-H, et al. Dietary factors associated with hyperuricemia in adults. Seminars in Arthritis and Rheumatism. 2008;37:243.
- Becker MA. Prevention of recurrent gout. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Sept. 23, 2009.
- Mercier LR. Gout. In: Ferri FF. Ferri's Clinical Advisor 2010. St. Louis, Mo.: Mosby; 2009. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/161368019-15/891042809/2088/271.html#4-u1.0-B978-0-323-05609-0..00016-2--sc0085_5557. Accessed Sept. 23, 2009.
- Questions and answers about gout. National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. http://www.niams.nih.gov/Health_Info/Gout/default.asp. Accessed Sept. 23, 2009.
