A clinical comparison of females and males with gouty arthritis.

Twenty-two (11.3%) of 194 gouty patients were female. The age at onset was earlier than the 40th year in only 4.5 per cent of the females compared with 19.7 per cent of the males. However, in 54.5 per cent of the female patients compared with 38.4 per cent of the males, the age at onset was 60 years or more. Although the initial manifestation of the disease was acute monoarticular arthritis, with involvement of the ankle joint being more commonly observed in the female patients (63.3%) than in the males (37.2%), and by contrast, with involvement of the first metatarsophalangeal joint (podagra) being more frequently noted in the males (45.9%) than in the females (22.7%). In subsequent attacks, oligoarticular arthritis and arthritis of the ankle joints were predominant features of the disease in both sexes. However, podagra was less frequently evident in the female patients (31.8%) than in the males (68.5%) as were tophi (18.2 and 31.4%, respectively); specifically, in those females with tophi, the tophaceous manifestation developed in all of them within four years of the onset of the disease compared with only 27.8 per cent of the males with tophi. Moreover, although provocative factors and associated diseases were present in both sexes, haematologic malignancy was more common in the females (22.7%) than in the males (2.9%). In conclusion, although the clinical features of gout in females are similar to those in males, gout in females is characterized by later onset of the disease, earlier development of tophi and arthritis of the ankle joint.