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Normally uric acid dissolves in your blood and passes through your kidneys into your urine. But sometimes your body either produce to much uric acid or your kidney excrete to little uric acid. When this happens, uric acid can build up, forming sharp needle-like urate crystals in a joint or surrounding tissue that cause pain, inflammation and swelling.
Risk Factors:
You're more likely to develop gout if you high levels of uric acid in your body.
Factors that increase the uric acid level in your body include:
Lifestyle Factors:
Choices you make in your everyday life may increase your risk of gout. Excessive alcohol use - generally more than two drinks day for men and more than one for women - increases the risk of gout.
Medical Conditions:
Certain diseases and conditions make it more likely that you’ll develop gout. These include untreated high blood pressure (hypertension) and chronic conditions, such as diabetes, high level of fat and cholesterol in the blood (hyperlipidemia), and narrowing of the arteries (arteriosclerosis).
Certain Medications:
The use of thiazide diuretics - commonly used to treat hypertension - and low low-dose aspirin also can increase uric acid levels. So can the use of anti-rejection drugs prescribed for people who have undergone an organ transplant.
Family History of Gout:
If other members of your family have had gout, you're more likely to develop the disease.
Age & Sex:
Gout occurs more often in men than it does in women, primarily because tend to have lower uric acid levels than men do. After menopause, however, women's uric acid levels approach those of men. Men also are more likely to develop gout earlier - usually between the ages of 40 and 50 - whereas women generally develop signs and symptoms after menopause.
After repeated attacks, Gout can become severe and chronic and may lead to joint deformity.
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