ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Aging and Public Health
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1540190
This article is part of the Research TopicAlleviating Age-Related Disease BurdenView all articles
Global, Regional, and National Burden of Gout Among Older Adults (≥65) from 1990 to 2021 and Projections for 2050
Provisionally accepted
- West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Gout, a common and treatable type of inflammatory arthritis, is caused by the buildup of monosodium urate crystals in the synovial fluid and other tissues. This study uses epidemiological modeling to analyze the global impact of gout among older adults (≥65) from 1990 to 2021, with projections extending to 2050, using the most recent data from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2021.Data from the GBD 2021 database were used to evaluate the global burden of gout in adults aged 65 and older from 1990 to 2021. The analysis considered factors such as age group (65+), gender, year , geographic classification (204 countries/regions, 5 SDI regions, 21 GBD regions), and the socio-demographic index (SDI). Metrics assessed included incidence, prevalence, and disabilityadjusted life years (DALYs), with their 95% uncertainty intervals (UI). All metrics were agestandardized using the GBD global standard population.In 2021, the global age-standardized incidence rate of gout among older adults was 432.70 (95% UI: 263.28, 677.27) per 100,000 population. The age-standardized prevalence rate was 3110.84 (95% UI: 2092.83, 4419.20) per 100,000, and the age-standardized DALYs were 90.90 (95% UI: 54.95, 139.13) per 100,000 person-years. There was an increasing trend in the incidence rate, prevalence, and DALYs as age increased among those 65 and older. The disease burden among older males was nearly twice that of females. Projections for 2050 show that the age-standardized incidence rate, prevalence rate, and DALYs are expected to increase to 524.99, 3628.85, and 105.36 per 100,000 population, respectively. Metabolic risks have become the primary risk factor for gout. Discussion Due to global population aging, our predictive model estimates that by 2050, the number of older adults with gout will increase by 8.5 million. The rise is particularly pronounced in high-SDI and high-income regions, highlighting the need for stronger prevention and management strategies in these areas. Early intervention in metabolic risk factors and improved early diagnosis and treatment are essential for effective gout management.
Keywords: older adults1, Global Burden of Disease2, Gout3, Prediction4, risk factors5
Received: 05 Dec 2024; Accepted: 08 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Tang, Deng and 吴. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: 倩 吴, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.