Just like elevated blood sugar leads to diabetes, gouty arthritis is due to the chronic accumulation of uric acid in various parts of the body, most commonly joints.
They can develop kidney stones, sudden heart attacks, and chronic kidney problems.
The disease begins with a stage of silent hyperuricemia (no joint pains or renal stones) lasting more than 10 years, followed by a stage of acute joint pains and slowly constant disabling pains. The pain is sudden and a nightmare to the patient due to explosive joint inflammation caused by the rupture of mature uric acid crystals accumulated in the joints.
This disease makes uric acid, a waste product of protein catabolism, difficult to get out of the body through the kidneys.
These people tend to be obese and more likely to develop severe hypertension.
Knowing that these diseases are chronic in nature and require long-term follow-up with various potential medicines is the key to improving the quality of life and lifespan of the individual.