Having Gout could ‘reduce the risk’ of developing Alzheimer’s

People with a history of gout have a 24 per cent lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, a study has found. The condition, known as the disease of kings due to Henry VIII famously suffering from it, appears to have a protective effect on the brain, researchers said. The same uric acid that can crystallise to cause gout, a form of arthritis, may protect against Alzheimer’s, they wrote in the online journal Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

Our findings provide the first population-based evidence for the potential protective effect of gout on the risk of AD (Alzheimers’ disease) and support the purported neuroprotective role of uric acid.

Conclusion of the report

The study was carried out in the United States but analysed people in the UK by looking at The Health Improvement Network (THIN), an electronic database from GPs’ surgeries around the country. Researchers compared data on people with gout, and those without, who developed Alzheimer’s disease in a followup period of about five years. The researchers identified 309 new cases of Alzheimer’s among 59,224 gout sufferers with an average age of 65, and 1,942 cases among 238,805 non-sufferers. Last year it emerged that the number of people suffering from gout is on the rise, with hospital admissions for the painful condition rising by a fifth over the last five years in England. Associated with a diet rich in purines such as red meat, seafood and beer, the most common symptom is a sudden and severe pain in the joint along with swelling and redness.

Health alzheimer's