Poster presenter: Yeonghee Eun, MD, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine
Poster title: Altered Risk of Gout According to Change of Metabolic Parameters in Young Adults
Poster Session B
8:30 – 10:30 a.m. ET Sunday, Nov. 7
All ACR Convergence 2021 poster presentations are available on demand to registered meeting participants through March 11, 2022.
What is your poster about?
Our study investigated the association between metabolic syndrome and gout in a nationwide, population-based cohort of young men. In young men, metabolic syndrome was associated with a 2.4-fold increase in the risk of incident gout. As the components of metabolic syndrome increased, the risk of gout increased. Next, we explored the association between changes in metabolic syndrome status and gout. The development of metabolic syndrome increased the risk of gout by 1.8 times, and recovery from metabolic syndrome reduced the risk of gout by 35%.
Why did you decide to investigate this topic?
Although the incidence of gout increases with age, gout in young people continues to increase. Gout in young people is known to be associated with metabolic disorders, but large-scale studies are lacking. Previous studies indicating that lifestyle modification lowered the risk of gout and that weight gain in adults increased the risk of gout suggest that changes in metabolic syndrome may alter the risk of gout, but there is still little evidence to date. Our study is the first to explore the association between changes in metabolic syndrome and gout.
What are you working on next related to this research?
Our study was conducted in a cohort of young people, and there was a difference in the association between metabolic syndrome and gout according to age. Therefore, we have extended the cohort to explore the association between changes in metabolic syndrome and gout at different age groups. In addition, since metabolic syndrome and gout both act as cardiovascular risk factors, we would like to investigate whether changes in metabolic syndrome have a greater effect on cardiovascular risk in people with gout than in those without gout.
What excites you most about your work?
Our study suggests that metabolic syndrome is an important risk factor for the development of gout in young adults. In addition, our findings that the development of metabolic syndrome was associated with increased risk of gout and recovery from metabolic syndrome was associated with decreased risk of gout propose that metabolic syndrome is a modifiable risk factor. Therefore, the prevention and management of metabolic syndrome in young men should be emphasized. It is interesting to note that the association between metabolic syndrome and gout was greater in underweight subjects, suggesting that maintaining metabolic health is important in preventing the occurrence of metabolic complications such as gout, even in nonobese people.