Global, regional and national burdens of gout in the young population from 1990 to 2019: a population-based study

OBJECTIVE: To use data from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study 2019 to report the global, regional and national rates and trends of annual incidence, point prevalence and years lived with disability (YLD) for gout in adolescents and young adults aged 15–39 years. METHODS: We conducted a serial cross-sectional study of gout burden in the young population aged 15–39 years using data from GBD Study 2019. We extracted rates per 100 000 population of incidence, prevalence and YLD of gout, then calculated their average annual percentage changes (AAPCs) at the global, regional and national level between 1990 and 2019 by sociodemographic index (SDI). RESULTS: The global gout prevalent cases in individuals aged 15–39 years was 5.21 million in 2019, with the annual incidence substantially increasing from 38.71 to 45.94 per 100 000 population during 1990–2019 (AAPC 0.61, 95% CI 0.57 to 0.65). This substantial increase was observed in all SDI quintiles (low, low-middle, middle, high-middle and high) and every age subgroup (15–19, 20–24, 25–29, 30–34 and 35–39 years). Males accounted for 80% of the gout burden. High-income North America and East Asia were facing a substantial increase in gout incidence and YLD simultaneously. Elimination of high body mass index can reduce 31.74% of the gout YLD globally in 2019, which varied from 6.97% to 59.31% regionally and nationally. CONCLUSION: Gout incidence and YLD in the young population grew simultaneously and substantially in both developed and developing countries. Improving representative national-level data on gout, interventions for obesity and awareness in young populations are strongly suggested.