Background Gout is a common and potentially serious rheumatological disease. Its management in France remains inadequate, with target serum uric acid (SUA) levels being reached in 20% of cases. American guidelines for the management of gout were released in 2012.

Objectives Our aim was to assess whether family doctors in Auvergne, France, agreed with the 14 recommendations for managing gout by mailing them a questionnaire.

Methods An anonymous questionnaire was mailed to all the family doctors in our region in November 2014.

Results The response rate was 40% (n=505/1263). Of the 505 family doctor respondents (FDRs), 60% had been in practice for more than 20 years. Some 56.2% were in practice in rural areas, and 53.6% followed on average 5 to 20 gout patients.

Management of acute gout: 90.7% of FDRs agreed with pharmacological management within 24 hours of the attack; 95% of FDRs agreed with using colchicine, 72% short-course nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and 16.6% corticosteroids; 81% approved of continuing hypouricemic therapy during the attack.

Management of chronic gout: 61.6% agreed with not treating asymptomatic hyperuricemia. Allopurinol or febuxostat are used as the first-line therapies according to 88.7%. Half of respondents lowered target SUA when gout was tophaceous.

Conclusions The guidelines generally met with the approval of family doctors in Auvergne (72% agreement). They were also confirmed on a European level in 2014. Their use should be disseminated with, however, some additional clarifications, particularly for the management of chronic gout.

Disclosure of Interest None declared