A Mendelian randomization analysis presented at the EULAR 2021 Virtual Congress suggests that the association between gout and hypertension may have a causal basis.

Urinary sodium-to-potassium ratio is independently and positively associated with disease activity and hypertension in people with rheumatoid arthritis, Japanese study findings indicate.

Individuals with ankylosing spondylitis who continually use NSAIDs have an increased risk for hypertension relative to those who use the drugs less frequently, study findings indicate.

Individuals with ankylosing spondylitis who continually use NSAIDs have an increased risk for hypertension relative to those who use the drugs less frequently, study findings indicate.

Smith SM, Cooper-DeHoff RM.  Am J Med  2018. doi: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2018.08.027

The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to assess the risk of incident gout associated with obesity, hypertension and diuretic use [ read more ]. Evans PL et al. Arthritis Res Ther 2018; 20: 136. doi: 10.1186/s13075-018-1612-1

They emphasize, however, that “the priority should always be effective treatment of hypertension with whichever agent is suitable for that patient.”

Reported adverse events associated with its use include arthralgia, back pain, dizziness, headache, hypercalciuria, hypertension, injection site reactions, nausea, and palpitations. medwireNews is an independent medical news service provided by Springer Healthcare Ltd. © 2022 Springer Healthcare Ltd, part of the Springer Nature Group

Discussing the link between gout and type 2 diabetes, Bernard Cheung (University of Hong Kong, China) and colleagues say that the two conditions are associated “under the umbrella of metabolic syndrome,” with gout linked to an elevated risk for hypertension, obesity, and cardiovascular disease.

Black women were also more likely than White women to have key risk factors for gout, namely a higher BMI (mean 32.3 vs 28.7 kg/m2), a higher dietary approaches to stop hypertension score (DASH, mean 28.9 vs 25.3), greater use of diuretics (10.8 vs 8.4%), and a greater likelihood of CKD, defined as an estimated glomerular filtration rate of less than 60 mL/min per 1.73m 2 (9.6 vs 7.3%).

The team from Heidelberg University Hospital in Germany, led by Christina Eichstaedt, studied data from 225 people with SSc (mean age 58.1 years, 81.3% women) who underwent routine screening for pulmonary hypertension (PH) between 2008 and 2020.

There was no significant difference between the two groups in the rates of pre-eclampsia (5.4 vs 6.3%), gestational hypertension (4.4 vs 8.3%), congenital malformations (7.6 vs 6.3%), or babies born large for gestational age (>90th percentile; 7.6 vs 6.3%).

There was also no increased incidence for a selected group of 2977 high-risk patients, who were aged at least 50 years and had one or more cardiovascular risk factors (hypertension, coronary heart disease, diabetes, hyperlipoproteinemia, or current smoking).

Fewer patients were male, the incidence of hypertension and diabetes was higher (all  p  < 0.001), and the proportion of peripheral arthritis (35.6 vs. 27.1%), Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Score‒erythrocyte sedimentation rate (4.0 ± 1.1 vs. 3.6 ± 1.0), and Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index (4.2 ± 2.6 vs. 3.3 ± 2.5) were all higher in older patients.

Han and colleagues note that the association between colchicine use and reduced CKD progression risk remained consistent when patients were matched according to CKD stage, and was particularly pronounced in people without diabetes or hypertension.

The study authors note that “[w]omen with gout have an elevated risk of metabolic comorbidities (hypertension, dyslipidaemia, type 2 diabetes, chronic kidney disease, obesity, coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, and heart failure.”

To address this, McCormick and team used food frequency questionnaire responses, collected from 80,039 US women in the Nurses’ Health Study every 4 years between 1984 and 2018, to generate scores for four healthy eating patterns: Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH), Prudent, Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI), and Mediterranean Diet, along with the Western pattern, which acted as an unhealthy comparison.