Let’s Talk Why There is a 30% Rise in Gout Patients in their 20s & 30s Since 2012!
Written By Jacob Colin Woodring on July 19th 2019 published originally on Blogspot/blameitonthegout
Just like any disclosure I am not an “expert” on this topic as I am not a doctor, nurse or anyone that has received a degree in Rheumatology or statistics.
On November 14th, 2018 Friday Magazine (link above) posted a rather interesting article. They stated that a UK study founded that there was an increase of gout patients since the 1980’s, but more specifically a 30% rise in 20 and 30 year old’s who were diagnosed with gout since 2012. The article was written by Luke Mintz and it was a duplicated on The Telegrah in October 2018.
The author mentions a 28 year old who was diagnosed with gout which is not super uncommon to find, but still uncommon nonetheless. He doesn’t eat tons of meat and he doesn’t drink a ton of alcohol and the guy in the article looks rather healthy. When you imagine a person in their 20s with gout, you probably imagined someone that was rather large, bushy beard and sloppy. Not this guy!
The author does mention this which is also known in the gout circles and rheumatologist offices all around the world.
The worsening obesity epidemic is believed to be at the heart of the issue, according to Prof Alan Silman, the medical director of Arthritis Research UK. Prof Silman points particular blame at fizzy drinks, and there is almost certainly a genetic factor as well, with around one in 10 patients inheriting the condition from their parents, according to the UK Gout Society.
However, experts do not yet agree on how much of the condition is down to genetics and how much to lifestyle.
Could there be a rise in obesity with people in their 20’s and 30’s which is correlated to the rise of gout diagnoses?
On October 15, 2018 AAFB posted an article showing that nearly 35% of residents in all but 2 states were registered as obese.
But being bigger doesn’t necessarily mean that you are inherently going to suffer from gout. One major factor when being diagnosed with gout is having a poor functioning liver and set of kidneys. How those two set of organs break down uric acid and purines determine your registration of gout. A gamer who sits in front of his computer all day and drinks nothing but Mountain Dew and a variety of microwavable food items who is borderline BMI “healthy” has just as much as a chance if not more of a chance to come down with a bout of gout than a person who has an “obese BMI.” Does a larger percent of gout sufferers fall within an obese BMI factor? Yes, but that could be due to a lack of testing for people who do not register as obese being quantified.
Could it be the rise in alcohol consumption that is causing an increase in gout diagnoses for people in their 20’s and 30’s?
While digging for this specific answer I found a good article that highlights a growing trend in alcohol use, but not specifically the rise in actual alcohol drinkers. NBC News states that:
Heavy drinking is on the rise in many parts of the U.S. — up more than 17 percent since 2005, researchers reported Thursday. And rates are rising faster among women than among men. — Maggie Fox
Maggie then also references this in her article
Koob says NIAAA has seen a big increase in college drinking. “It’s not that the percentage of young people is increasing alcohol use,” Koob said. “It’s that bingeing is more intense.”
Maggie also mentions the 3 reasons she believes could result in the rise in binge drinking which is socioeconomic, availability and social norms. So it’s not so much that there are more and more people attributing to the amount of drinkers, it’s just the actual habit of drinking has changed.
How your kidneys break down the molecular structure of beer and alcohol in general is complicated, but we cannot conclusively come down to a determining factor that the rise in alcohol consumption is the reason for the increase in young gout sufferers. Is it a correlation or a causation? Maybe a study could be started to figure this out! I could only imagine how many young 20 and 30 year olds who sign up for this specific study. “Yeah bro, I get paid … every blood test I do… Nah bro, I get paid to drink my brewski and I cross my fingers after 6 months I don’t get the gout!”
Could it be a rise in genetic abnormalities causing the gout to appear in people of their 20’s and 30’s?
Genetics and relating that to gout studies has been fairly expensive in the years, but recently labs have founded that they can lower down the cost to about $1,000 if needed to do a genetic coding to figure out how much of a risk you are to gout, how to treat gout and how to avoid the triggers. I have tried to find a single article that has alluded to a possible link between genetic abnormalities with gout and the rising disproportionate rate between 2012 (or even 2000) to 2019. I could not find any. Nonetheless genetics is not the new threat to gout (which is because it’s always been there) but an actual positive step for those who want to be aware of what they might possibly trigger and activate in their genetic makeup. It can benefit you if you are within an economic class of people who can afford such luxury and if you want to fork over the same price of the newest iPhone!
Here is a good article that goes over the benefits of getting a genetic makeup and having you and your doctor analyze the results. The genetics of gout: towards personalised medicine?
So… what are my thoughts on the rise of new gout diagnosis for people in their 20’s and 30’s?
I was diagnosed with gout in 2000. I was 13 years old. I was around 5'6" (grew to a healthy 5'10") and was probably a good 160 pounds. I was healthy and active. I was diagnosed along with my 2 cousins who were around the same age. In 2000 in Modesto California there were 3 new gout patients all under the age of 14 years old. All cousins and sharing the same family background. Back then our family doctor didn’t know how to handle this. He gave me and my cousins the rule to take Indomethacin every day of the year and Allopurinol as well in conjunction. This was horrible actually because the Indomethacin is an NSAID that can WRECK your stomach lining. Indomethacin should only be used when you have an attack and even then, it has to be monitored by your doctor.
Since 2000 I have developed a golf ball sized uric acid deposit on my left wrist that required surgery to remove, pulmonary nodules, uric acid deposits that have formed into tophi, weakened stomach lining, fatty liver, kidneys that have developed the occasional kidney stones (the list goes on and on). I lost jobs, missed finals, been left out of social events etc. So you can say I have a mighty opinion on this.
But what do you really think Jacob? Come on! I don’t think it was alcohol, obesity or any abnormal change in genetics. I think it comes down to the fact that in 2000 research for the average person was much harder than what it is now. People are feeling more empowered to research their issues and going to their doctor with actual concrete questions that are based off of a Mayo Clinic definition. Research is key and information is more readily available. I bet you good money that if I posted this article on my Facebook page and one person sees a link from what I went through or the issues discussed on this publication and they Google their symptoms… they might turn to their doctor for specific questions and a request for a uric acid test! More and more people are empowering themselves to research their daily symptoms and demanding their doctors find out the results. This was rare back in 2000 and before when I was diagnosed at the ripe age of 13.
So in the end of it, the original article stated in the beginning of this publication did a great deal with sharing his background on his diagnosis of gout… but we concluded that the rise wasn’t in direct correlation or causation with a rise in alcohol, obesity or any abnormal genetic transformation on the worlds population. It could very well be that more people are seeking an actual medical diagnosis. Gout is one of the oldest diseases in the books and this could describe why each year there is an obvious increase to gout diagnosis. It’s not so much an increase of “new” gout cases… but a case of data reports finally catching up. I am sure (remember I am not a doctor or a medical data analyst) that in 10–20 years we will see that linear graph stable out not because there is a cure or anything medically phenomenal, but because in the 90s the internet was starting to be accessible to the populations and things like Google and Bing and the Mayo Clinic (and other medical sites) were not present until the 2000s. We are still too early to actually say that there was a true increase or decrease.