Prevalence of gout and hyperuricemia in the US general population: The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2007-2008

To estimate the prevalence of gout and hyperuricemia based on the latest nationally representative sample of US men and women (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey [NHANES] 2007-2008).

Using data from 5,707 participants in NHANES 2007-2008, we estimated the prevalence of gout and hyperuricemia. During home interviews for NHANES 2007-2008, all participants were asked about a history of health professional- or physician-diagnosed gout. Our primary definition of hyperuricemia was a serum urate level of >7.0 mg/dl for men and >5.7 mg/dl for women. We explored potential secular trends in these estimates and their possible explanations by comparing them with estimates based on 18,825 participants in NHANES-III (1988-1994).