Unadjusted comparisons of patient characteristics for new allopurinol users stratified by SUA goal versus not at SUA goal. All values are n (%) unless specified otherwise.
| Patient Characteristics | Total, n = 9581a | SUA at Goal, < 6 mg/dl, n = 3078 | SUA Not at Goal, ≥ 6 mg/dl, n = 6503 | p* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male vs female | 7218 (75.3) | 2149 (69.8) | 5069 (77.9) | < 0.0001* |
| Patient age groups, yrs | < 0.0001* | |||
| < 55 | 3462 (36.1) | 782 (25.4) | 2680 (41.2) | |
| 55–64 | 3923 (40.9) | 1086 (35.3) | 2837 (43.6) | |
| ≥ 65 | 2196 (22.9) | 1209 (39.3) | 987 (15.2) | |
| Race/ethnicity | < 0.0001* | |||
| White | 4762 (49.7) | 1622 (52.7) | 3140 (48.3) | |
| African American | 1246 (13.0) | 442 (14.4) | 804 (12.4) | |
| Hispanic | 1471 (15.4) | 406 (13.2) | 1065 (16.4) | |
| Asian/Pacific Islander | 78 (0.8) | 12 (0.4) | 66 (1.0) | |
| Other | 2024 (21.1) | 596 (19.4) | 1428 (22.0) | |
| Comorbidities | ||||
| Hypertension | 7743 (80.8) | 2505 (81.4) | 5238 (80.5) | 0.78 |
| Myocardial infarction | 823 (8.6) | 219 (7.1) | 604 (9.3) | 0.77 |
| Congestive heart failure | 1055 (11.0) | 254 (8.3) | 801 (12.3) | 0.0003* |
| Diabetes | 2850 (29.7) | 858 (27.9) | 1992 (30.6) | 0.07 |
| Other covariates | ||||
| Baseline GFR, ml/min, mean ± SD | 60.5 ± 18.0 | 61.6 ± 15.9 | 55.2 ± 18.8 | < 0.0001* |
| Diuretic use | 4798 (50.1) | 1584 (51.5) | 3214 (49.4) | 0.25 |
| Use of baseline antiinflammatory | 5357 (55.9) | 1272 (41.3) | 4085 (62.8) | < 0.0001* |
| Rheumatologist as initial prescriber | 757 (7.9) | 412 (13.4) | 345 (5.3) | < 0.0001* |
| Allopurinol adherence, PDC ≥ 80 | 4767 (49.8) | 2001 (65) | 2766 (42.5) | 0.004* |
| Starting allopurinol total dose, mg/day | ||||
| ≤ 100 | 5070 (52.9) | 699 (22.7) | 4371 (67.2) | < 0.0001* |
| > 100 to < 300 | 1995 (20.8) | 1217 (39.5) | 778 (12.0) | < 0.0001* |
| ≥ 300 | 2516 (26.3) | 1162 (37.8) | 1354 (20.8) | < 0.0001* |
| Allopurinol dose adjustment | ||||
| Dose escalation | 2992 (31.2) | 1797 (58.3) | 1195 (18.4) | < 0.002* |
↵a SUA was evaluated for patients who had a baseline and followup SUA level anytime during observation (n = 9581). The last SUA level was taken for each patient during followup period.
↵* p value was set at < 0.05 for statistical significance. SUA: serum urate; GFR: glomerular filtration rate; PDC: proportion of days covered.