Background/Purpose: Hyperuricemia, or raised serum uric acid (SUA), is the condition closely associated with gout due to the deposition of monosodium urate crystals in peripheral joints and soft tissues. Gout is a chronic musculoskeletal (MSK) disease affecting 1-2% of the world’s population and has been identified as one of the major MSK disorders contributing to the rising MSK burden in the Global Burden of Diseases (GBD), Injuries and Risk Factors 2010 & 2013 Studies. Hyperuricemia has also been reported as an independent risk factor for coronary heart disease, the metabolic syndrome, diabetes, stroke and incident mortality. Broader dissemination of hyperuricemia prevalence data should facilitate improvement of gout and other chronic diseases prevention and management strategies.

The purpose of this study is to systematically review published literature and capture country-specific population-based data on the global prevalence of hyperuricemia.

Methods: Using the following terms: ‘gout or hyperuri*’ combined with the terms: ‘prevalen* or epidemiolo*’, literature searches were performed for the period Jan 1980 to May 2015 on MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, CAB Abstracts, WHO Library (WHOLIS) and OpenSIGLE. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were set to identify relevant population-based epidemiological studies for the data extraction. Data were extracted into an Excel spreadsheet, and grouped according to the GBD classified 21 world regions.

Results: Published population-based prevalence data of hyperuricemia were reported in 13 of the 21 GBD regions, and a total of 24 countries. Although hyperuricemia was relatively more prevalent in Asia regions, the lowest (Papua New Guinea 1%) and highest (Marshall Islands 85%) reported prevalence were both in Oceania. The widest range of prevalence was observed in East Asia. It was also noted that over two decades, the prevalence of hyperuricemia in High Income Asia Pacific (Japan) increased by 5 fold. Range of the extracted prevalence data reported by various studies are shown in the table below. The data were for both females & males combined unless specified. For the eight regions marked with “No data”, no published population-based epidemiological studies on hyperuricemia were identified during the specified systematic review period.

Prevalence of Hyperuricemia in GBD Regions

Conclusion: Elevation of serum uric acid (SUA) is evident throughout all regions of the world, where it has been measured, but considerable regional variation exists. Significant increases are evident in regions that have trend data available. The rising burden of gout together with increasing burden of obesity and ageing globally further emphasises the importance and urgent need for the development of prevention and management strategies for hyperuricemia and gout. Population-based epidemiological research and report on hyperuricemia and gout, particularly in regions of the world with no data, should be encouraged.

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ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/global-prevalence-of-hyperuricemia-a-systematic-review-of-population-based-epidemiological-studies/