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Quality of Care in Patients with Gout: Why is Management Suboptimal and What Can Be Done About It?

Quality of Care in Patients with Gout: Why is Management Suboptimal and What Can Be Done About It? Gout is a common inflammatory arthritis. We know a great deal about its etiopathogenesis and have relatively safe and effective therapies for it. Gout, however, remains a poorly managed disease with mistakes made in securing an accurate diagnosis and in using appropriate therapies for acute and chronic stages of the disease. Synovial fluid analysis with polarizing microscopy is the “gold standard” for confirming the diagnosis of gout but has been used in fewer than 10% of all patients diagnosed with gout. The newly adopted European clinical guidelines offer a practical alternative to synovial fluid analysis, but primary care physicians are not well-versed in their use. Other serious errors in the management of gout are related to the use of medications to treat acute and chronic gout. Frequently, the anti-inflammatory drugs used to treat acute symptoms and urate-lowering drugs used to prevent long-term destruction are improperly dosed, leading to dissatisfaction on the part of patients and physicians. Widespread education about evidence-based diagnostic and treatment guidelines is desperately needed. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Current Rheumatology Reports Springer Journals

Quality of Care in Patients with Gout: Why is Management Suboptimal and What Can Be Done About It?

Edwards, N.
Current Rheumatology Reports , Volume 13 (2) – Dec 14, 2010
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References (36)

Publisher
Springer Journals
Copyright
Copyright © 2010 by Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
Subject
Medicine & Public Health; Rheumatology
ISSN
1523-3774
eISSN
1534-6307
DOI
10.1007/s11926-010-0154-6
pmid
21161617
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Gout is a common inflammatory arthritis. We know a great deal about its etiopathogenesis and have relatively safe and effective therapies for it. Gout, however, remains a poorly managed disease with mistakes made in securing an accurate diagnosis and in using appropriate therapies for acute and chronic stages of the disease. Synovial fluid analysis with polarizing microscopy is the “gold standard” for confirming the diagnosis of gout but has been used in fewer than 10% of all patients diagnosed with gout. The newly adopted European clinical guidelines offer a practical alternative to synovial fluid analysis, but primary care physicians are not well-versed in their use. Other serious errors in the management of gout are related to the use of medications to treat acute and chronic gout. Frequently, the anti-inflammatory drugs used to treat acute symptoms and urate-lowering drugs used to prevent long-term destruction are improperly dosed, leading to dissatisfaction on the part of patients and physicians. Widespread education about evidence-based diagnostic and treatment guidelines is desperately needed.

Journal

Current Rheumatology Reports – Springer Journals

Published: Dec 14, 2010

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