Abstract
ObjectiveTo characterize the current language that is used in describing and defining gout, its symptoms, and its treatment by reviewing recent publications in rheumatology and determining how word choice may, or may not, be reflective of recent scientific developments in gout specifically.MethodsThis was a computational linguistics study, using collocations analyses and concordance analyses on a database of scientific literature related to gout. The final data set for analysis included 2,590 articles, all relating to gout and published between May 2003 and May 2013 and amounting to 12,101,036 tokens (sentence segments). Analysis was conducted by a team of linguists and social scientists.ResultsOur primary finding is that current disease language in gout is marked by ambiguity and imprecision, as evidenced by numerous terms that have similar but distinct meanings, but are nevertheless used interchangeably, therefore blending the slight but significant distinctions between these words. Whereas treatment language is characterized by a multitude of terms to describe a therapeutic mechanism of action, there is a relative void of terms and phrases used to describe success (treating to target) in gout.ConclusionThe data suggest that the language used to describe gout could be improved and updated. A transformation from an antiquated and insufficiently descript terminological set to one that reflects the recent scientific and clinical advancements made in the category would maximize opportunities for patient and physician understanding.
Highlights
Gout is one of the first chronic diseases to be recognized as its own clinical entity, with origins dating to 2640 BC [1,2]
Terms suspected to have the greatest relevance to practicing clinicians were identified, including gout, gouty arthritis, hyperuricemia, intercritical gout, gouty arthropathy, and podagra
Gout is used as an umbrella term that refers to the underlying hyperuricemia, the flares and attacks, the acute and chronic stages, and eventually its tophaceous presentation
Summary
Gout is one of the first chronic diseases to be recognized as its own clinical entity, with origins dating to 2640 BC [1,2]. Scientific and medical understanding of the disease process in gout has inevitably improved since gout’s identification, clinicians and documentarians have wavered in the terminology used to refer to the disease. This linguistic ambiguity, or perhaps uncertainty, appears as early as in some of the first recorded uses of the term gout. The Latin “gutta quam podagram vel artiticam vocan” translates in English to “the gout that is called podagra or arthritis” [2]. This very statement raises the question: is it gout, podagra, or arthritis?
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