“Gout is a very common and somewhat debilitating problem,” Dr. Phillip Schauer tells Reuters Health. “While there is medication for gout, it’s not always effective and patients can suffer quite severe pain from this problem.”
Diet and exercise alone as a means to lose weight will likely not work well enough to lower the risk of gout, says Schauer, a professor of surgery at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine who was not involved with the study.
“For people who suffer gout and are obese and despite medical treatment are still suffering from gout attacks, they ought to think about surgery as an option,” says Schauer. He notes that the surgery might also target other health conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure.
“People should be aware that bariatric surgery is effective not only in reducing body weight but also the risk of developing serious conditions that are commonly associated with obesity, such as gout,” Maglio says.
Reference
- Maglio C, Peltonen M, Neovius M, et al. Effects of bariatric surgery on gout incidence in the Swedish Obese Subjects study: A non-randomised, prospective, controlled intervention trial. Ann Rheum Dis. 2016 Oct 8. doi:10.1136/annrheumdis-2016-209958