Non-Profit Group Launches Educational Web Site For Gout Sufferers

Main Category: Gout
Also Included In: IT / Internet / E-mail
Article Date: 10 Nov 2006 - 0:00 PDT

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The Gout & Uric Acid Education Society, a non-profit group of health care professionals, today launched http://www.gouteducation.org , a valuable educational resource for gout sufferers and their caregivers. The Web site is designed to help gout sufferers enhance their understanding of the disease and its treatments, embrace lifestyle modifications and, ideally, restore some control and spontaneity to their lives.

"Many people think gout died with Ben Franklin, but more than two million people in the United States suffer with gout today," said N. Lawrence Edwards, M.D., Chairman and CEO of the Gout & Uric Acid Education Society and Professor and Vice-Chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of Florida, Gainesville. "We formed the Gout & Uric Acid Education Society and launched this Web site to educate the public and the health care community about gout and the related health care consequences of hyperuricemia, with the aim of improving the quality of care and minimizing the burden of gout. Our site is a one-stop resource for gout sufferers and their caregivers."

The Society's Web site, http://www.gouteducation.org, provides information on risk factors and triggers of gout, diagnosis, lifestyle and diet adjustments and treatments to manage the disease, among other relevant topics. Additional information will be added to the site on an ongoing basis. The site text is adapted from the Gout & Uric Acid Education Society's brochure About Gout: What you need to know about gout and uric acid.

About Gout

Gout is the most common type of inflammatory arthritis in men over 40. Women typically do not suffer from gout until after menopause. It is also one of the most painful forms of arthritis -- often compared by gout sufferers as a pain level equivalent to childbirth or the fracture of long bones. Two thirds of gout sufferers described their typical gout flare as, or close to, the worst pain possible in a recent survey by Harris Interactive.

Gout is caused by an accumulation of sodium urate crystals in the joints. These crystals form when there is an abnormally high level of uric acid in the body. Following a first attack of gout, approximately 60 percent of patients will experience another attack within the first year and 78 percent within the next two years. If gout is left untreated it can lead to permanent joint damage and chronic pain.

About Uric Acid and Hyperuricemia

Uric acid is naturally present in small amounts in the body. It is a normal waste product that results from the breakdown of purines found in cells or absorbed in food.

Normally, uric acid dissolves in the blood and passes through the kidneys into the urine. When more uric acid is produced than the kidneys can eliminate, the serum uric acid level increases. This elevated level is known as hyperuricemia. When the uric acid level increases to 6.8 mg/dL it begins to crystallize in joints and can lead to painful gout attacks.

About The Gout & Uric Acid Education Society

The Gout & Uric Acid Education Society is a non-profit group of health care professionals with expertise in rheumatology, nephrology, pharmacy, cardiology and nutrition whose mission is to educate the public and health care community about gout and the related health care consequences of hyperuricemia, with the aim of improving the quality of care and minimizing the burden of gout. For more information, visit http://www.gouteducation.org or contact the Society at contactus@gouteducation.org, or at 877-540-GOUT (4688) or write The Gout & Uric Acid Education Society, 875 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 3300, Chicago, IL 60611-1959.

The Gout & Uric Acid Education Society's patient education resources are supported by grants from Savient Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and TAP Pharmaceutical Products, Inc. Corporate sponsors do not review or contribute to editorial content. Content does not reflect the views, opinions or commercial interests of the Gout & Uric Acid Education Society sponsors.

Harris Interactive Online Survey of 321 gout patients who have experienced a gout flare. Survey was fielded October 2 to October 9, 2006.

Gout & Uric Acid Education Society
http://www.gouteducation.org