Abstract

Background:The prevalence of gouty patients with ulcerations over tophi are increasing over time and it has been reported that gouty patients have significantly poor quality of life (QoL) compared to those healthy controls. [1, 2] there is no study on comparison of the QoL in patients with or without ulceration over tophi.Objectives:To compare the QoL in gout patients with or without ulcerations over tophi.Methods:A total of 79 inpatients with gout who were admitted to Guangdong Second Provincial General Hospital from January 2019 to January 2020 were included. Among them, ulcerations were identified in 28 patients. Short Form-36 Scales (SF-36) were chosen to assess patients. Differences between the groups were tested with Student’s t test or Mann-Whitney U test for continuous variables, and Chi-square tests for categorical variables.Results:Of 79 subjects, 74 were male, mean age was 54.23±14.3 years, disease duration was 10.94±7.06 years. Gouty patients had moderate- to high-quality levels in general health, vitality, social functioning, role emotional, and mental health (median: 65, 75, 75, 88, and88, respectively), while had low levels of quality in role physical, and bodily pain (median: 0, and 22, respectively). Patients presenting with ulcerations over tophi had worse scores on five SF-36 domains, the mental component summary (MCS) and the physical component summary (PCS) than gout patients without ulcerations [mean (SD); P < 0.05 for all]: Bodily pain, 30.86(31.59) vs 35.17(33.40); General health, 49.46(27.01) vs 64.17(23.69); Vitality, 57.14(32.53) vs 72.84(26.38); Mental health, 75.4(22.43) vs 83.05(20.96); Reported health transition, 3.58(0.89) vs 3.78(1.42); MCS, 52.62(21.82) vs 66.65(21.44); PCS, 35.85(21.17) vs 46.67(23.86).Conclusion:Patients with ulcerations over tophi present much worse QoL compared those without ulcerations. Our study suggests that the presence of ulceration over tophi further deteriorates the QoL in gout patients.

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