Clinical pattern of females with crystal-induced arthritis: gout and pseudogout.

Of the 228 patients with crystal-induced arthritis (194 cases of gouty arthritis, 34 cases of pseudogout) seen between 1976 and 1985 at the Medical Service of Chulalongkorn hospital in Bangkok, 46 of them or 20.2 per cent of the total were female. The females with crystal-induced arthritis included 22 cases of gouty arthritis and 24 cases of pseudogout. Pseudogout was seen more commonly than gouty arthritis during the 10-year period. Both types exhibited a similar pattern with regard to late onset of disease at age 60 or more (75% of the cases with pseudogout and 54% of those with gouty arthritis), monoarticular arthritis as the initial manifestation (83.3% of those with pseudogout and 59.1% of those with gouty arthritis), intermittent pattern (54.2% of those with pseudogout and 86.4% of those with gouty arthritis) and the presence of precipitating factors (37.5% of those with pseudogout and 45.5% of those with gouty arthritis). However, different patterns were observed with regard to the joint of involvement: the knee joint was the most commonly involved joint in pseudogout (75%) but the ankle joint was seen in cases of gouty arthritis (86.4%). Podagra was not observed in cases of pseudogout, although in 22.7% of the patients with gouty arthritis, it was the initial manifestation of the disease. In subsequent attacks of arthritis, monoarticular arthritis (61.5%) and knee joint involvement (75%) were the main features of pseudogout. Oligoarticular arthritis (63.2%) and ankle joint involvement (86.4%) were the main feature of gouty arthritis.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)