What Increases Your Risk

Gout is caused by too much uric acid in the blood (hyperuricemia). The following risk factors can either cause hyperuricemia or make joints more susceptible to the formation of uric acid crystals:

• Being male
• Family history of gout
• Obesity
• Moderate, regular, or heavy consumption of alcohol, especially beer
• A diet rich in meat and seafood, which can be high in purines
• Use of medicines that remove salt and water from the body (diuretics)
• Regular use of aspirin (more than 1 or 2 aspirin tablets a day)
• Frequent episodes of dehydration
• Acute illness or infection
• Lead exposure (may occur through work, diet, or hobbies)
• Very low-calorie diets
• Injury to a joint

Gout and other conditions

Certain other conditions and diseases appear more often in people who have gout than in people who don't, though studies have not shown a clear relationship. It is thought that gout shares risk factors (such as obesity, hypertension, and high levels of triglycerides) with certain diseases, including:

• Diabetes.
• Kidney (renal) disease.
• Hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis).
• Heart disease.