The ideal aim of treatment in any disease is to achieve a cure. This is feasible in most infectious diseases, but in many chronic diseases — such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), or psoriasis — a cure is not yet possible. Available treatments can only hope to decrease disease activity, leading to the disappearance of symptoms and avoiding or minimizing its progression and consequences. This state has received the name of remission; its definition in the Merriam-Webster Medical Dictionary1 is “a state or period during which the symptoms of a disease are abated.” Remission and cure are, thus, different aims. In the report by Alvarado-de la Barrera, et al2, in this issue of The Journal, recently developed Preliminary Criteria for the Remission of Gout — which have not undergone further validation — have been applied to patients with gout attending a tertiary center in Mexico. The characteristics of these patients have been described previously3 as coming from a low socioeconomic background and being particularly noncompliant, having poorly managed, very severe gout, and treating their symptoms with self-prescribed glucocorticoid monotherapy4, a therapy associated to the early appearance of …
Address correspondence to Prof. E. Pascual, Universidad Miguel Hernandez, Carretera Nacional 332 s/n, 03550, San Juan de Alicante, Alicante, Spain. E-mail: pascual_eli{at}gva.es