(HealthDay)—Gout is associated with an increased risk for venous thromboembolism, according to a study published in the June 3 issue of CMAJ, the journal of the Canadian Medical Association.

Alyshah Abdul Sultan, Ph.D., from the Arthritis Research UK Primary Care Centre at Keele University in the United Kingdom, and colleagues identified 62,234 patients with incident gout between 1998 and 2017, who were matched for age, gender, general practice, and follow-up time with 62,234 controls. The authors calculated absolute and relative risks of venous thromboembolism.

The researchers found that compared with controls, patients with gout had an increased risk for venous thromboembolism (absolute rate, 37.3 versus 27.0 per 10,000 person-years; adjusted hazard ratio, 1.25; 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.15 to 1.35). The excess risk, which was sustained up to a decade after diagnosis, was only seen during time outside hospital stay (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.30; 95 percent CI, 1.18 to 1.42) but not during hospital stay (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.01; 95 percent CI, 0.83 to 1.24). Venous thromboembolism risk was similar for those prescribed and not prescribed urate-lowering therapy (incidence rate ratio, 1.04; 95 percent CI, 0.89 to 1.23).

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