A new survey from the Gout & Uric Acid Education Society (GUAES) finds many Americans with gout may be placing too much emphasis on diet when it comes to managing the disease and controlling painful flares. Of all the steps taken to manage gout, respondents cited changing their diet by eliminating or reducing consumption of certain foods as their top step taken (50 percent)—even ahead of taking medications to lower their uric acid levels (40 percent) and maintaining an overall healthy fitness level (33 percent). Furthermore, nearly one in three with gout incorrectly believes that the disease can be completely avoided by eliminating certain foods; and more than one in four said they would not take medications if they were making dietary changes.
“Physicians all too often see patients who believe they can successfully manage their gout with diet alone,” said N. Lawrence Edwards, M.D., a rheumatologist and GUAES chairman. “But even with extremely rigid diet restrictions, most gout patients will only be able to lower their uric acid levels slightly—not nearly enough to achieve a healthy level to control flares and reduce risk for long-term damage.”
To view the multimedia release go to:
http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7835451-guaes-diet-survey/
Extremely painful and destructive, gout is the most common form of inflammatory arthritis with elevated serum uric acid (sUA) a root cause of the disease. Even with the growing incidence of gout, recent research from the Gout & Uric Acid Education Society (GUAES) found that just 16 percent of Americans overall know the target sUA number for gout (6 mg/dL or below) – and just 38 percent of people with gout had their sUA levels checked within the past six months, the timeframe recommended by the American College of Rheumatology. Additionally, the majority of gout sufferers don’t understand the importance of taking daily uric acid-lowering medications, with four in 10 incorrectly believing that they can stop taking medications when they aren’t experiencing flares.
Seeking to increase recognition of the severity of gout and need for routine sUA testing and management, GUAES hosted a professional roundtable discussion on October 3, 2015. The roundtable brought together several experts – rheumatologists, a family care physician, and representatives from the American Association of Diabetes Educators, the National Kidney Foundation and CreakyJoints – to explore how to more effectively educate about gout and improve access to public education and treatment.
To view the multimedia release go to:
http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7715851-guaes-gout-roundtable-discussion/
The Gout & Uric Acid Education Society (GUAES) has added six new educational videos for patients and medical professionals to its library of popular educational videos on gout, highlighting the society’s most important takeaways from the recently released American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Guidelines on Gout Diagnosis and Treatment. Available under the patient and medical professional portals on www.GoutEducation.org, respectively, the latest videos emphasize the need for continuous communication between gout patients and their doctors about their unique treatment plan, to help prevent gout flares and long-term complications from this poorly understood form of inflammatory arthritis.
To view Multimedia News Release, go to http://www.multivu.com/mnr/60699-gout-uric-acid-education-society-guaes-new-videos-on-acr-guidelines
New recommendations from the American Society of Clinical Rheumatologists (ASCR), published in Postgraduate Medicine, highlight updated management recommendations for patients with acute gout. These new recommendations come at a time when the incidence of gout is soaring; 8.3 million Americans are estimated to be gout patients.
Instead of challenging, restrictive dieting, patients are encouraged to consume a balanced diet of fresh fruit and vegetables, low-fat dairy products, nuts and grains. More importantly, patients should limit their intake of high fructose corn syrup, a common ingredient in many processed foods and drinks, and purine-rich foods, particularly red meat, beer and shellfish.
To view Multimedia News Release, go to http://www.multivu.com/mnr/56234-gout-uric-acid-education-arthritis-lifestyle-change-treatment-options
