medwireNews: Observational findings suggest that pioglitazone use may be associated with a reduced risk for gout among patients with diabetes.
“The prevention of gout in diabetic populations is important” given that the incidence of gout is higher among patients with diabetes than the general population, explain Hugo You-Hsien Lin (Kaohsiung Medical University, Taiwan) and study co-authors.
Using data from the Taiwanese National Health Insurance program, the team found that 8.2% of 30,100 diabetes patients who were treated with pioglitazone developed gout over an average 4.48 years of follow-up, compared with 9.9% of 90,300 participants who were not treated with the drug.
This was equivalent to a significant 19% reduced risk for gout with pioglitazone treatment after adjustment for age, sex, comorbidities, and medications, and a dose-dependent association was observed, report the researchers in Rheumatology.
“Additional epidemiological studies and biological mechanisms are required to clarify the associations among pioglitazone, [insulin resistance] and gout,” they conclude.
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