Epidemiology of cardiac or orthopedic procedures in gout versus rheumatoid arthritis: a national time-trends study.

Cardiac and orthopedic procedures rising faster for gout compared to rheumatoid arthritis in the United States We performed a national US study of the most common cardiac versus orthopedic procedures from 1998 to 2014. We found that over time, the number and the rate of cardiac procedures increased in people with gout (2.2-fold higher) or rheumatoid arthritis (1.6-fold higher). This was surprising, since during the same time, we noted a decrease in cardiac procedures in the general U.S. population. The rate of cardiac procedures in gout was 2.5-fold higher than that in rheumatoid arthritis, 82.8 vs. 33.1 per 100,000 NIS claims in 2014. Interestingly, orthopedic procedures were more common than cardiac procedures in both gout and RA in all periods. Also, the difference in the numbers of cardiac vs. orthopedic procedures increased over time in both gout and RA. Gout outpaced rheumatoid arthritis for both the total number and the rate of cardiac or orthopedic procedures over time. Therefore, our study provides an understanding of an increasing procedure burden in gout compared to rheumatoid arthritis, and to the general U.S. people with these conditions.