Gout is in the news as we approach Gout Awareness Day. Click here to read the article by Jane Brody in the May 10 edition of The New York Times.
GOUT FAST FACT
Gout rarely affects children or young adults.
GOUT BROCHURE
Download our brochure
Click here - pdf
Request a FREE gout brochure in the mail. Click here.
SIGN UP FOR EMAIL UPDATES
Medical Professionals Blog: Gout Education
Welcome to the medical professionals blog of the Gout & Uric Acid Education Society (GUAES). The blog is designed to inform medical professionals about gout and to encourage information exchange and dialogue on topical issues within the healthcare community. We encourage you to visit us often for new resources to enhance patient education. Many of the new resource tools will be available for free download on our website.
So, who are we?
The Gout & Uric Acid Education Society is a nonprofit group of healthcare professionals whose mission is to educate the public and healthcare community about gout and the related healthcare consequences of hyperuricemia, with the aim of improving the quality of care and minimizing the burden of gout. As an independent nonprofit organization, the information is generated from experts in the literature and not influenced by pharmaceutical companies.
Our newly launched professionals section of gouteducation.org will give you a general overview of the disease and its stages of progression, the link between hyperuricemia and gout, how to properly diagnose the condition, risk factors and triggers, treatment options, suggested resources and more.
We welcome your questions and topic suggestions, as well as best practices that may help other medical professionals understand the disease, comorbidities and effective patient education tools and information.
GUAES activities are developed under the direction of our board of directors chairman N. Lawrence Edwards, MD. Other board members include Hyon K. Choi, M.D., Dr.P.H.; Thomas Dowling, Pharm.D., Ph.D.; Richard J. Johnson, M.D.; Brian Franklyn Mandell, M.D., Ph.D.; Joan McTigue, M.S., PA-C; Kenneth G. Sagg, M.D., M.Sc.; H. Ralph Schumacher, Jr., M.D.; and Amy Lynn Seybert-Kobulinsky, B.S., Pharma.D. For board member biographies and areas of interest visit the About Us section of the site.
For content suggestions and questions, please contact Ellen Wein at 412-456-0986 or ellen.wein@eurorscg.com.
We also encourage you to follow us on Twitter and join us on Facebook.
Gout Awareness Day, the focal point of our outreach to patients, is on May 22.
We are now accepting orders for our updated “About Gout” brochure which is available at no cost to healthcare professionals and patients.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
As part of the Gout & Uric Acid Education Society’s mission to inform the healthcare community about gout and the related healthcare consequences of hyperuricemia, the society will be attending the American College of Physicians Internal Medicine 2011 meeting from April 6-9, 2011, in San Diego. The sharp increase in the prevalence of gout, from 5 million several years ago to 8.3 million sufferers in the United States in the last few years[1], has led to increased need for awareness and education among primary healthcare providers.
Stop at our booth in the exhibit hall, #1534, to learn more about gout and complimentary educational resources you can order for your practice, including the newly updated “About Gout” brochure.
One of our board members, Dr. Brian F. Mandell, will also be giving two lectures about gout during the Scientific Program Sessions. Board member Joan McTigue will be available at the booth to answer questions.
The Society’s annual Gout Awareness Day is May 22. Take the opportunity now to ensure that your staff has the latest in treatment information and patient education.
[1] According to the most recent National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), 2007-2008
Monday, October 4, 2010
A new study by Hyon Choi, MD, DrPH, a professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine and a Gout and Uric Acid Education Society board member suggests that even modest weight loss may help control hyperuricemia, one of the causes of gout. Weight loss was found to lower uric acid and may reduce the risk of gout.
In some cases, weight loss may help patients to limit gout attacks and make it possible to avoid prescription medication. The study demonstrates the importance of talking to your patients about lifestyle changes – specifically diet and exercise. For diet and activity guidelines that are easy for patients to follow, refer to the tips in the “Treatment Options” section of this web site.
To learn more about the study as reported in Arthritis Today, click here.
Tuesday, June 29 2010
Several Gout & Uric Acid Society (GUAES) board members participated in a round-table discussion last winter about preventing and treating acute gout attacks across the clinical spectrum. The forum focused on the diagnosis and management of the acute attack in the outpatients and inpatient settings. GUAES board member Brian F. Mandell, MD, of the Cleveland Clinic hosted the discussion. other participants included GUAES chairman N. Lawrence Edwards, MD.
Click here to read the transcript which was recently published in a supplement to the Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine.
Friday, May 28 2010
The results of our 2010 Gout Awareness Day survey are in. They show that most people don’t associate gout with the severity of other arthritic diseases. In fact, only 1 in 4 Americans (28%) of Americans believe that gout can have a major negative impact on health and well being while 60 percent cited rheumatoid arthritis as having a major negative impact1?
Help us bridge the awareness gap by helping your patients understand that if left untreated, advanced gout can lead to the same level of work loss, physical disability and diminished quality of life as advanced rheumatoid arthritis.
1 IOnline survey within the United States by Harris Interactive on behalf of GUAES from March 22-24, 2010, among 2,283 adults age 18 and older.
Tuesday, May 25 2010
We’ve just posted our downloadable patient education tools. They’re handy reference tools patients can refer to once they’re home and can help you and your staff discuss important modifications to diet and activity level. Let us know if there are other frequently-asked topics that we can discuss on the website or in our patient and medical professional blogs.
If you haven’t already, be sure to order a quantity of our “About Gout” brochure available at no cost to healthcare professionals.
Are you on Twitter or Facebook? So are we. Join us for ongoing news and information updates in cyberspace.
Thursday, May 20 2010
Did you know that most Americans underestimate the serious health implications of gout? Click here and read consumer research results suggesting the importance of talking with your patients about the disease and its lifestyle implications.
Encourage your patients to learn more about gout. Visit the Patient Information Resources page to download simplified dietary guidelines, a gout and lifestyles fact sheet, and information on clinical trials. Also, place an order for our free About Gout brochures to distribute to your patients.
Monday, May 17 2010
One of the most common questions we receive from medical professionals and patients has to do with food choices. While there is no “gout diet,” diet and activity level can play a role in managing gout, along with medication.
It is important to encourage patients to avoid purine-rich foods, such as red meat, and large amounts of foods with moderate concentration of purine. A diet low in purine content can play an important role in managing gout because purine can increase the amount of uric acid in the body and may trigger a gout attack. Alcohol intake should be limited because it can stimulate increased purine production. Beer, in particular, not only exerts an ethanol effect on purine production and elimination but also is a purine-rich food.
Dietary counseling for weight loss in obese and hypertensice patients can help to reduce urate levels.
You can download a flyer about food choices here. You can also download a lifestyle flyer to enable your patients to monitor attacks and identify any foods that may play a role in triggering an attack.
Natural and herbal remedies are attracting much interest among patients these days, but at this time there is no evidence-based research to substantiate their effectiveness and consequently are they not part of our dietary guidelines.
There are approximately 5 million people in the U.S. today who have gout. So much for many people thinking gout is a “historical” disease. How did you react when you or your loved one was first diagnosed with gout? Did you feel there was a stigma attached to the disease? Send us your questions and your stories. Help make this blog all about you!
