Identification of a New Risk Factor for Gouty Attacks

Uric acid crystals galvanize inflammation that can lead to gout attacks. But clearly, urate levels alone don't explain gout. First, only 20% of people with hyperuricemia ever experience gouty attacks, and second, gouty attacks can occur even when urate levels in the previous weeks have been normal.

In past studies, researchers identified putative risk factors for gout (other than uric acid levels), but those studies are small, cross-sectional, and conducted in ethnically homogenous populations. In a new study, investigators evaluated metabolomic data (i.e., large-scale study of metabolites within cells, biofluids, tissues, or organisms) from 106,000 participants in the U.K. Biobank. In people with no history of gout, levels of 168 metabolite…