Gout Risk and Alcohol Consumption: Are There Sex-Based Differences?

When looking at the literature, the authors of a recent study pointed out that much of the data on alcohol consumption and gout risk either combined the sexes in their cohort or mostly studied men. Accordingly, they set out to look more closely at each sex and their incidence of gout in relation to total and specific alcohol consumption.¹

Using a baseline timeframe of 2006-2010 in the UK Biobank, the researchers looked at 401,128 individuals free of gout at that time. From 37 to 73 years old, they then followed those participants until the end of 2021. Data included results of a questionnaire on their alcohol consumption habits.¹ They verified incidence of gout based on medical records.

The study population included 179,828 men and 221,300 women with a mean age of 56 years for both.¹ The authors eventually excluded individuals who developed gout within the first two years of follow-up, those who reduced their drinking for health purposes, those with baseline heart disease, cancer, or kidney failure, and those that reported generally poor health.¹

Current male drinkers did exhibit a higher risk of gout than those men that never drink, however this was not also true for the female subjects. Not surprisingly, their data also showed that higher total alcohol consumption did associate with higher gout risk in both sexes. However, it showed a stronger association in men versus women.¹ Beer and cider exhibited the clearest difference between the sexes as far as specific alcoholic beverages and their relationship to gout, showing the most association per one pint per day. In this study, men consumed 4.2 pints average per week, and women 0.4 pints average weekly. Additionally, white wine, champagne, and spirits also exhibited a significant relationship.¹

The authors concluded that higher consumption of several types of alcohol did associate with the incidence of gout, but that this was in both sexes, and that sex-specific correlations may actually relate to differences in total consumption and types of consumption among them.

Reference
1.        Lyu J-Q, Miao M-Y, Wang J-M, et al. Alcoholic beverages and long-term risk of gout among men and women. JAMA Netw Open. 2024;7(8):e2430700.