Cardiovascular Disease Prevalence in Patients with Osteoarthritis, Gout, or Both

Objective: Osteoarthritis (OA) and gout have each been associated with increased cardiovascular disease (CVD), but their relative impact is unknown. We compared CVD rates among patients with gout versus patients with OA and no gout (OA-only). Methods: We identified male patients at the VA New York Harbor Healthcare System with gout (with or without concurrent OA) and with OA-only between August 2007 and August 2008. For each group, we collected baseline demographic data and CVD risk factors. The primary outcome was a composite index (CV4) of any diagnosis of coronary artery disease (CAD), angina, myocardial infarction (MI), or coronary bypass surgery (CABG). Secondary outcomes included individual diagnoses within the CV4, CHF, and death. We subsequently divided the gout patients into those who did versus did not have concurrent diagnoses of OA (gout-only; gout+OA). Logistic regression was used to compare the associations of OA-only, gout-only, and gout+OA with CV outcomes. Results: 1,280 gout subjects met inclusion criteria (983 goutonly and 297 gout+OA), along with 1,231 OA-only subjects. Gout subjects overall had more CVD risk factors at baseline, including hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and chronic kidney disease, versus OA-only. Compared with OA-only, gout subjects overall had increased rates of all outcomes except MI. Both the gout-only and gout+OA subgroups also had increased risk for all outcomes except MI, and CABG in the case of gout+OA subjects. After adjusting for traditional CVD risk factors, both gout-only and gout+OA subjects continued to have increased risk for multiple CVD outcomes. Gout+OA did not impart additional risk over gout-only for any outcome studied. Conclusion: Our data suggest that gout is associated with higher risk of CVD compared with OA, and that OA does not impart any additive CVD risk to patients who also have gout. Significance and Innovations: In our dataset, gout subjects both with and without concomitant OA had more cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors at baseline, and higher prevalence of CVD outcomes, than patients with OA only. After adjusting for traditional CVD risk factors, gout-only and gout+OA subjects continued to have increased rates of multiple CVD outcomes, suggesting an intrinsic CVD risk to the diagnosis of gout, compared with OA. These observations underline that gout patients represent a group at increased CVD risk, for whom both rheumatic disease management and CVD prevention need to be addressed.