Cause-Specific Mortality in Patients With Gout in the US Veterans Health Administration: A Matched Cohort Study.

Objective: To compare all-cause and cause-specific mortality risk between patients with gout and patients without gout in the Veteran's Health Administration (VHA).

Methods: We performed a matched cohort study, identifying patients with gout in the VHA from January 1999 to September 2015 based on the presence of ≥2 International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision codes for gout (274.X).

Associations between an expanded autoantibody profile and treatment responses to biologic therapies in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Background: Although biologics represent a major advance in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), many patients fail to achieve adequate responses to these agents. We examined whether combined positivity to three well-characterized autoantibodies predicts treatment response among RA patients initiating biologics.

Methods: The study included biologic-naïve patients initiating anti-TNF treatment, biologic-exposed patients switching to rituximab or tocilizumab, and patients (biologic naïve or exposed) initiating abatacept.

Incidence, Prevalence, and Burden of Gout in the Veterans Health Administration.

Objective: To determine the prevalence, incidence, and burden of gout in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) from 2005 to 2014.

Methods: We used national VHA data from January 1999 to December 2014 to determine the annual incidence and prevalence of gout in the VHA. Gout burden to the VHA was determined by the proportion of patients with an encounter related to gout.