Longitudinal follow-up study of the association with gout and Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease in Korea

To date, no clear conclusion on the relationships of gout with the occurrence of typical neurodegenerative diseases, Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD), has been reached. This study aimed to determine whether the patients with gout are at a lower or higher probability of developing AD or PD than those without gout. Longitudinal follow-up data of a representative sample of Korean adults were assessed. 18,079 individuals diagnosed with gout between 2003 and 2015 were enrolled in the gout group. The comparison group comprised 72,316 demographics-matched individuals not diagnosed with gout. Longitudinal associations of gout with AD or PD were estimated using Cox proportional hazard regression adjusting for potential confounders. The adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) of AD and PD in the gout group were 1.01 and 1.16 times higher than controls, but these differences were not statistically significant (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.92–1.12 and 95% CI = 0.97–1.38, respectively). Although there was no significant association in the entire sample, AD and PD probabilities in patients with gout were significantly higher in participants < 60 years, and PD probabilities in patients with gout were significantly higher in overweight participants. Our findings identify significant correlations of gout with AD and PD in participants < 60 years and gout with PD in those with overweight, indicating that gout may play a role in the development of neurodegenerative diseases in younger or overweight populations. Further investigations should be performed to corroborate these findings.