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Researchers at an academic rheumatology department in the Netherlands prospectively developed a diagnostic rule for gout using data from 381 consecutive patients with monoarticular arthritis who were referred by family physicians. Within 24 hours of visits to family practitioners, patients underwent joint aspiration, examination of synovial fluid for monosodium urate (MSU) crystals, physical examination, and laboratory testing. Researchers, who were blinded to the family practitioners' diagnoses of gout or nongouty arthritis, analyzed predefined potentially diagnostic variables in logistic regression models; variables that were significantly associated with presence of MSU crystals were weighted and used to develop a clinical prediction mod…