Diabetes Mellitus in Patients With Gouty Arthritis

Abstract

IT HAS previously been reported that patients with clinical gouty arthritis show a strong familial background of diabetes mellitus.¹However, none of these patients studied from 1940 to 1942 exhibited concurrent diabetes mellitus themselves. Charcot²in 1881, held that the inheritance of a common underlying character could lead to the development of either disease. However, Joslin and associates³have reported that only one diabetic out of 1,500 had coexistent gout. In 1957, Weiss, Segaloff and Moore⁴reviewed the English medical literature and could find only five reported instances of gouty arthritis and diabetes mellitus occurring in the same patient. They reported the presence of an elevated fasting blood sugar in 28% of 143 consecutive patients with gout. Only one patient in their series required insulin to control diabetes. They estimated a 50% greater incidence of abnormal carbohydrate metabolism in gouty patients than in a carefully matched