Approximately 12 million US adults in the US have gout. Two recent literature reports in JAMA and Arthritis Care & Research highlight contributors to gout flares.

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Leiden cohort study of hand osteoarthritis (HOA) patients shows that over 4 years, pain outcomes are variable, and not inevitably worsening.A total of 356 HOA patients (83% female, mean 60 years) were enrolled from the Hand OSTeoArthritis in Secondary care (HOSTAS) cohort. Outcomes were assessed using annual Australian/Canadian hand osteoarthritis index (AUSCAN) pain subscale (range 0-20) measurements. Pain changes were categorized as deterioration, stable and improvement using the Minimal Clinical Important Improvement (MCII). 

Patients with highly active systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) appeared to sustain much less organ damage and fewer disease flares when drug therapy yielded substantial relief, researchers found.Unfortunately, only a minority of such patients achieved low disease activity or remission in the multinational cohort study, according to Alberta Hoi, MBBS, PhD, of Monash University in Clayton, Australia, and colleagues.