Gout weakly associated with Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia

Dementia is one of the most common diseases with high morbidity, mortality, and reduced quality of life, especially in the elderly population taking a toll on global mortality rate. The number of dementia patients or related cognitive impairment is expected to increase to 115 million by 2050.

The association between gout and dementia, Alzheimer's disease (AD), or vascular dementia (VD) is not fully understood. Xuanlin Li and team, aimed to evaluate the risk of all-cause dementia, AD, and VD in gout patients with or without medication.

The meta analysis published in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience suggests that the risk of all-cause dementia, AD, and VD was found to be decreased in gout patients, but still there is lack of evidence to validate the same.

Researchers included data sources were PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, and reference lists of included studies. The current meta-analysis included cohort studies assessing whether the risk of all-cause dementia, AD, and VD was associated with gout. The risk of bias was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale (NOS). The Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) system was used to access the overall certainty of evidence. Risk ratios (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were pooled using a random-effects model, and publication bias was assessed with funnel plots and Egger's test.