Year: 2026 | Month: April | Volume: 13 | Issue: 4 | Pages: 155-174
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52403/ijrr.20260416
Management of Gout: Targeting Pain or Metabolic Control
G. R. Subbu1, Martin M2, Milaniya M3, Raveendran A V4
1Chief, Department of Medicine, St. Joseph's Hospital, Poovathussery, Ernakulam - 693579, Kerala, India.
2CMO, St. Joseph's Hospital, Poovathussery, Ernakulam.
3Assistant Divisional Medical Officer, Central Railway Hospital, Bhubaneswar, India.
4Physician, Badr Al Samaa Hospital, Oman.
Corresponding Author: Dr. G. R. Subbu
ABSTRACT
Background: Gout, a chronic crystallo-metabolic condition that necessitates early metabolic intervention. Employing a treat-to-target urate-lowering approach is crucial to prevent systemic complications, rather than simply managing acute inflammatory events.
Methodology: This article reviews current scientific literature on gout and hyperuricemia, focusing on their metabolic connections. It examines clinical guidelines and research supporting early urate-lowering therapy and a treat-to-target approach, emphasizing the value of early intervention to prevent disease progression and related health issues.
Main body of the abstract: The prevalence of hyperuricemia-related diseases is rising rapidly worldwide, imposing significant health and economic burdens. This trend is largely attributed to substantial lifestyle changes in both urban and rural populations. Hyperuricemia extends beyond joint pain; it represents a spectrum of diseases that can metabolically affect almost all bodily systems, and uric acid can be deposited in all organs. Addressing gout with a focus on its metabolic origins can mitigate the detrimental effects of hyperuricemia on other systems. Since gout is fundamentally a metabolic disorder, initiating early uric acid-lowering therapy can help preserve joint and organ health, mainly the vascular endothelium, rather than merely waiting for flare-ups. The current approach to gout management emphasizes a 'treat to target' strategy, aiming to lower serum uric acid levels below 6 mg/dL, rather than simply alleviating symptoms like pain. Furthermore, there is little justification for delaying the start of uric acid-lowering therapy; screening at the pre-hyperuricemia stage can help prevent the onset of gout.
Conclusion: Gout is fundamentally a metabolic disease with multisystem implications. Effective management requires early identification of hyperuricemia, prompt initiation of urate-lowering therapy, and adherence to a treat-to-target strategy, as well as managing comorbidities. In today's metabolic landscape, gout is both preventable and curable.
Keywords: Gout, hyperuricemia, extra-articular manifestations of hyperuricemia, extra-articular uric acid deposition, advantages of early treatments of gout, treat to target, pitfalls in the current gout management, treatment of gout on metabolic background, gout is a curable disease.
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