Essence of the revised guideline for the management of hyperuricemia and gout

Hyperuricemia and gout are common diseases that can be treated by general and family physicians, but with the wide range of diagnosis and treatment departments that treat them, these are diseases for which guidelines are demonstrably useful. Published in 2002 by the Japanese Society of Gout and Nucleic Acid Metabolism in 2002, the Guideline for the Management of Hyperuricemia and Gout was subsequently revised, and in January 2010 the Revised Guideline for the Management of Hyperuricemia and Gout was published. While maintaining the spirit of the original guideline, the revised guideline not only fulfills the prerequisites required for formulating the current guideline but also incorporates new approaches such as the quantification of consensus levels. In addition to emphasizing that hyperuricemia has the duel aspects of being a urate deposition disease and a disease associated with lifestyle diseases, as well as the fact that all hyperuricemia patients require correction of lifestyle habits related to obesity, hypertension, and metabolic syndrome, the revised guideline covers the current evidence in detail. It is the author's sincere hope that this guideline will be utilized effectively in daily medical practice in this field.