HYPERURIKAMIE UND GICHT

After description of the epidemiology of hyperuricemia and gout, questions concerning the frontiers of the normal uric acid level and the onset of hyperuricemia are discussed. In differential diagnosis of hyperuricemia, secondary hyperuricemia will be excluded, because it will be the goal of therapy to treat the primary disease. In primary hyperuricemia 95 per cent of the cases show a reduced output of uric acid by the kidney. Only in 5 per cent of 'juvenile gout' an increased synthesis of uric acid with an increased output is present. In conclusion the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of gout are discussed.