What's New
Announcement
Posted on 01.15.02
Medication Errors in the Management of Gout
By Jason Oliveri, MPH
Gout is an arthritic condition that affects about 1 to 3 million Americans. Characterized by painful bouts of swelling and extreme pain (particularly in the big toe), gout occurs when needle-like crystals of uric acid deposit themselves in the joints.
Uric acid, a normal waste product of the body, normally is filtered out by the kidneys and eliminated in the urine. In people with gout, however, the level of uric acid rises above normal, and the resulting crystals accumulate in the ligaments and cartilage.
Although incurable, gout can be managed through changes in lifestyle (such as diet) and through medications. Using drugs to treat gout, however, can increase a person's risk of receiving either inappropriate drugs or dosages. Further, because gout is most common among the elderly, who often have other diseases such as hypertension and diabetes, drug-related errors can be devastating.
In recognition of this concern, investigators from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of Pennsylvania CERTs are collaborating on a project to define drug errors in gout therapy and identify patient and physician characteristics that can predict them.
Accordingly, this project consists of two parts:
- Systematic review of the medical literature and expert panel evaluation of quality-of-care indicators in gout therapy
- Examination of physician behaviors in gout therapy, using both a regional U.S. database and a medical-record database developed in the United Kingdom
The first large, systematic examination of drug-related errors in gout therapy, this project will examine a disease that has been greatly underrepresented in arthritis and health-services research. It also should create opportunities for important future research into targeted prevention strategies.