Association Between Gout and the Risk of Dementia: A Meta‐Analysis of Observational Studies and Biological Mechanisms

TL;DR

This study finds that gout is not significantly linked to overall dementia risk but may be associated with lower risks of Alzheimer's and vascular dementia.

Contribution

The study provides a meta-analysis of gout's association with dementia subtypes and highlights potential population-based differences.

Findings

Gout was not significantly associated with overall dementia risk (RR: 0.80, 95% CI: 0.58–1.10).

Gout was linked to lower risks of Alzheimer's disease (RR: 0.70) and vascular dementia (RR: 0.68).

Inverse associations were observed in Asian populations but not in Western populations.

Abstract

The relationship of gout with the risk of dementia has been a subject of importance in current studies. There is no comprehensive meta‐analysis regarding their association. Hence, our team performed a systematic review and meta‐analysis to examine the relationship of gout with the risk of dementia.

We searched PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, and Web of Science beginning at database commencement till 1 December 2022. For systematic review and meta‐analysis, 2 independent reviewers comprised observational researches that assessed the relationship of gout with risk of dementia. This research pursued the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta‐Analyses summarizing guidelines to extract and synthesize data. Our team applied the random‐effects model to determine pooled risk ratios (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

Our study covered 5 observational studies. The pooled RR for the risk of overall dementia was 0.80 (95% CI: 0.58–1.10) with no evidence of publication bias. Moreover, the pooled RR demonstrated lesser risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD) at 0.70 (95% CI: 0.62–0.78) and vascular dementia at 0.68 (95% CI: 0.48–0.95) among patients with gout. An inverse association was observed in Asian people, but there was no relationship of gout with dementia among Western people.

In this meta‐analysis of observational studies, gout was not significantly associated with overall dementia risk, although inverse associations were observed for AD and vascular dementia. These findings suggest potential heterogeneity by dementia subtype and population but should be interpreted cautiously given the observational design. Well‐designed prospective studies and randomized trials are needed to clarify causality and underlying mechanisms.

International Platform of Registered Systematic Review and Meta‐analysis Protocols INPLASY2025110018; https://doi.org/10.37766/inplasy2025.11.0018.

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