Table 1 Baseline characteristics of patients starting on uric acid lowering therapy
Male (n = 2741)Female (n = 7082)
Age, years78 (7)80 (7)
Race:*
    Caucasian2535 (93)6615 (92)
    African–American189 (7)400 (6)
Health care utilisation:
Number of physician visits10.1 (7.5)10.2 (7.5)
Hospitalisations, any cause1309 (48)3354 (47)
Hospitalisations, gout71 (2.6)193 (2.7)
Number of different drugs9.9 (5.7)11.6 (6.1)
Comorbid illnesses3.1 (2.6)2.9 (2.5)
Gout related factors:
Acute gout diagnoses351 (13)928 (13)
Tophaceous gout diagnoses29 (1.1)93 (1.3)
Nephrolithiasis4 (0.2)19 (0.3)
Interstitial nephritis16 (0.6)58 (0.8)
Number of patients receiving an NSAID1138 (42)3273 (46)
Number of patients receiving colchicine351 (13)857 (12)
Number of patients receiving steroids306 (11)857 (12)
Number of patients with IA injection†168 (6)586 (8)
Nephrologist/rheumatologist as primary prescriber‡149 (5)400 (6)
  • Baseline characteristics determined based on data from the 12 months prior to the index date. Values are n (%) or mean (SD).

  • *Other race is less than 1% of the total population.

  • †Intra-articular injections and aspirations have the same procedure code and thus cannot be distinguished in health care utilisation data.

  • ‡The primary prescriber could not be determined for all patients.

  • IA, intra-articular; NSAID, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug.