Study: Gout Attacks Increase at Night
Gout attacks are more than twice as likely to occur overnight as during the day or evening, a new study shows. It confirms a finding that many doctors and patients had observed. The study kept track of 724 people with gout for a year. They recorded the date and hour of gout attacks. They described their symptoms and listed their medicines. Drinking alcohol, eating some foods or taking some medicines have been linked with gout attacks. People in the study also included whether they had done any of these things in the 24 to 48 hours before the attack. A total of 1,433 gout attacks occurred. About half of those, 733, were between midnight and 8 a.m. Another 310 occurred between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., and 390 between 5 p.m. and midnight. Â Therefore, gout attacks were 2.4 times as likely to occur at night as during the daytime.