TY - JOUR T1 - Gout and Association with Erectile Dysfunction JF - The Journal of Rheumatology JO - J Rheumatol SP - 1731 LP - 1733 DO - 10.3899/jrheum.150814 VL - 42 IS - 10 AU - ALLAN C. GELBER Y1 - 2015/10/01 UR - http://www.jrheum.org/content/42/10/1731.abstract N2 - For greater than a century, and seemingly even exceeding a millennium, the clinical features of gout have been clearly recognized. These include rapidity of onset, crescendo escalation of joint pain and swelling, association with gluttony and excessive consumption of high purine foods and alcoholic beverages, and predilection for involvement of the first metatarsophalangeal joint (i.e., podagra) at onset of disease1,2. Similarly, demographic aspects about gout are well known: the predominant involvement among men and the abrupt rise in disease incidence among women in the postmenopausal phase of life3,4,5. In contrast, what is relatively new to the field of gout epidemiology is the increasing number of comorbid disorders that are associated with gout incidence and prevalence.In fact, gout is not a condition that lives in isolation. Gout keeps company with many common and highly prevalent chronic medical disorders in contemporary society. For example, among data derived from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2007–2008, the large majority of Americans afflicted with gout have one or more concomitant comorbidities6. Over 70% of affected men and women have concomitant hypertension and/or compromised renal function; and over half are obese. Approximately one-quarter have diabetes mellitus; the same proportion has a history of nephrolithiasis. Moreover, in the subsequent 2009–2010 survey period, the prevalence of gout steadily rose in association with increasing number of involved comorbidities. As such, the overall prevalence of gout rose from 1.7% among those free of comorbidity, to 4.1% among those who were hypertensive, to 7.0% in those hypertensive with one additional cardiovascular risk factor, and then higher still, to 9.8%, among hypertensive adult Americans with 2 additional cardiovascular risk factors7. Such large population-based surveys also afford the opportunity to observe these comorbid associations among various … Address correspondence to Dr. A.C. Gelber, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 5200 Eastern Ave., Mason F. Lord Bldg., Center Tower, Suite 4100, Baltimore, Maryland 21224, USA; E-mail: agelber{at}jhmi.edu ER -