{"id":23955,"date":"2026-05-11T15:46:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T19:46:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ices.on.ca\/?post_type=journal_article&p=23955"},"modified":"2026-05-11T15:46:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T19:46:24","slug":"health-care-use-among-patients-presenting-to-emergency-department-for-gout-flares-in-ontario-canada","status":"publish","type":"journal_article","link":"https:\/\/www.ices.on.ca\/fr\/publications\/journal-articles\/health-care-use-among-patients-presenting-to-emergency-department-for-gout-flares-in-ontario-canada\/","title":{"rendered":"Health care use among patients presenting to emergency department for gout flares in Ontario, Canada: a population-based health systems analysis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Objective<\/strong> \u2014 We characterized emergency department (ED) gout visits and identified patient characteristics and health services patterns contributing to ED presentations.<\/p>\n

Methods<\/strong> \u2014 We conducted a population-based study of ED gout visits in Ontario, Canada between 2014 and 2023. We assessed patient characteristics, encounter rate trends (cumulatively and stratified by age and sex), and healthcare use surrounding ED visits. Among individuals aged \u226566 years, gout-related medication use was examined.<\/p>\n

Results<\/strong> \u2014 From 2014 to 2023, 125,505 ED gout visits occurred, including 86,824 (69.2%) incident ED cases. Mean age was 59.7 years, with 77.5% male. Individuals with ED gout visits were more likely to live in materially marginalized and less racially diverse neighborhoods. Comorbidity burden was high, driven by hypertension (57.7%) and diabetes (24.0%). ED gout encounters peaked in 2018, with an annual crude rate of 0.99 visits per 1,000 persons (95% CI: 0.97\u20131.01) and a male-specific rate of 1.56 (95% CI: 1.53\u20131.59). Older adults (aged 75\u201384) had the highest rates at 3.01 (95% CI: 2.89\u20133.15) visits per 1000-persons in 2015 across study years. Within 30-days of ED discharge, 21.3% had gout-specific follow-up visits, 28.3% of patients aged \u226566 years received flare medications, and 10.3% filled an opioid prescription. By 6-months, 38.1% underwent outpatient serum urate testing. Within 90-days, repeat ED visits occurred in 29.9%, with 9.4% specifically for gout.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/strong> \u2014 Gout contributes to a high burden of ED visits, with sub-optimal treatment, poor follow-up and frequent representations. Quality improvement efforts are needed to prevent acute care presentations for gout and improve post-ED management.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Objective \u2014 We characterized emergency department (ED) gout visits and identified patient characteristics and health services patterns contributing to ED presentations. Methods \u2014 We conducted a population-based study of ED gout visits in Ontario, Canada between 2014 and 2023. We assessed patient characteristics, encounter rate trends (cumulatively and stratified by age and sex), and healthcare […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","migration-helper-automated":[],"migration-manual":[],"topic":[24,62,51],"migration-helper-qa-sample-set":[],"class_list":["post-23955","journal_article","type-journal_article","status-publish","hentry","topic-acute-and-emergency-services","topic-health-services-research","topic-musculoskeletal-diseases-and-disorders"],"acf":{"citation":"Kwok TSH, Morais S, Silverstein WK, Atzema CL, Choy G, Chandratre P, Li P, Widdifield J. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken)<\/em>. 2026; May 11 [Epub ahead of print].","source_url":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/acr.80086","ices_scientist":[1383,1122],"site":[6733],"research_program":[6746],"news_release":"","journal_article":"","atlas":"","research_report":"","infographic":"","video":"","downloads":null,"links":null,"sitecore_item_id":"","sitecore_item_name":"","sitecore_field_values":"","previous_url":""},"yoast_head":"\nICES | Health care use among patients presenting to emergency department for gout flares in Ontario, Canada: a population-based health systems analysis<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Objective \u2014 We characterized emergency department (ED) gout visits and identified patient characteristics and health services patterns contributing to ED\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ices.on.ca\/fr\/publications\/journal-articles\/health-care-use-among-patients-presenting-to-emergency-department-for-gout-flares-in-ontario-canada\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"fr_FR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ICES | Health care use among patients presenting to emergency department for gout flares in Ontario, Canada: a population-based health systems analysis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Objective \u2014 We characterized emergency department (ED) gout visits and identified patient characteristics and health services patterns contributing to ED\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ices.on.ca\/fr\/publications\/journal-articles\/health-care-use-among-patients-presenting-to-emergency-department-for-gout-flares-in-ontario-canada\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ICES\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ICESOntario\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-11T19:46:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ices.on.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/ic-es-data-discovery-better-health-logo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ices.on.ca\\\/fr\\\/publications\\\/journal-articles\\\/health-care-use-among-patients-presenting-to-emergency-department-for-gout-flares-in-ontario-canada\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ices.on.ca\\\/fr\\\/publications\\\/journal-articles\\\/health-care-use-among-patients-presenting-to-emergency-department-for-gout-flares-in-ontario-canada\\\/\",\"name\":\"ICES | Health care use among patients presenting to emergency department for gout flares in Ontario, Canada: a population-based health systems analysis\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ices.on.ca\\\/fr\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-11T19:46:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-11T19:46:24+00:00\",\"description\":\"Objective \u2014 We characterized emergency department (ED) gout visits and identified patient characteristics and health services patterns contributing to ED\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ices.on.ca\\\/fr\\\/publications\\\/journal-articles\\\/health-care-use-among-patients-presenting-to-emergency-department-for-gout-flares-in-ontario-canada\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"fr-FR\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ices.on.ca\\\/fr\\\/publications\\\/journal-articles\\\/health-care-use-among-patients-presenting-to-emergency-department-for-gout-flares-in-ontario-canada\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ices.on.ca\\\/fr\\\/publications\\\/journal-articles\\\/health-care-use-among-patients-presenting-to-emergency-department-for-gout-flares-in-ontario-canada\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ices.on.ca\\\/fr\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Journal Articles\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ices.on.ca\\\/fr\\\/publications\\\/journal-articles\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Health care use among patients presenting to emergency department for gout flares in Ontario, Canada: a population-based health systems analysis\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ices.on.ca\\\/fr\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ices.on.ca\\\/fr\\\/\",\"name\":\"ICES\",\"description\":\"POPULATION-BASED HEALTH RESEARCH THAT MAKES A DIFFERENCE\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ices.on.ca\\\/fr\\\/#organization\"},\"alternateName\":\"Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ices.on.ca\\\/fr\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"fr-FR\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ices.on.ca\\\/fr\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"ICES\",\"alternateName\":\"Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ices.on.ca\\\/fr\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"fr-FR\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ices.on.ca\\\/fr\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ices.on.ca\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/ices-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ices.on.ca\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/ices-logo.png\",\"width\":\"676\",\"height\":\"618\",\"caption\":\"ICES\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ices.on.ca\\\/fr\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/ICESOntario\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/ices-research-institute\\\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"ICES | Health care use among patients presenting to emergency department for gout flares in Ontario, Canada: a population-based health systems analysis","description":"Objective \u2014 We characterized emergency department (ED) gout visits and identified patient characteristics and health services patterns contributing to ED","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ices.on.ca\/fr\/publications\/journal-articles\/health-care-use-among-patients-presenting-to-emergency-department-for-gout-flares-in-ontario-canada\/","og_locale":"fr_FR","og_type":"article","og_title":"ICES | Health care use among patients presenting to emergency department for gout flares in Ontario, Canada: a population-based health systems analysis","og_description":"Objective \u2014 We characterized emergency department (ED) gout visits and identified patient characteristics and health services patterns contributing to ED","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ices.on.ca\/fr\/publications\/journal-articles\/health-care-use-among-patients-presenting-to-emergency-department-for-gout-flares-in-ontario-canada\/","og_site_name":"ICES","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ICESOntario\/","article_modified_time":"2026-05-11T19:46:24+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":675,"url":"https:\/\/www.ices.on.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/ic-es-data-discovery-better-health-logo.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ices.on.ca\/fr\/publications\/journal-articles\/health-care-use-among-patients-presenting-to-emergency-department-for-gout-flares-in-ontario-canada\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ices.on.ca\/fr\/publications\/journal-articles\/health-care-use-among-patients-presenting-to-emergency-department-for-gout-flares-in-ontario-canada\/","name":"ICES | Health care use among patients presenting to emergency department for gout flares in Ontario, Canada: a population-based health systems analysis","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ices.on.ca\/fr\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-05-11T19:46:21+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-11T19:46:24+00:00","description":"Objective \u2014 We characterized emergency department (ED) gout visits and identified patient characteristics and health services patterns contributing to ED","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ices.on.ca\/fr\/publications\/journal-articles\/health-care-use-among-patients-presenting-to-emergency-department-for-gout-flares-in-ontario-canada\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"fr-FR","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ices.on.ca\/fr\/publications\/journal-articles\/health-care-use-among-patients-presenting-to-emergency-department-for-gout-flares-in-ontario-canada\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ices.on.ca\/fr\/publications\/journal-articles\/health-care-use-among-patients-presenting-to-emergency-department-for-gout-flares-in-ontario-canada\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ices.on.ca\/fr\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Journal Articles","item":"https:\/\/www.ices.on.ca\/fr\/publications\/journal-articles\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Health care use among patients presenting to emergency department for gout flares in Ontario, Canada: a population-based health systems analysis"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ices.on.ca\/fr\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ices.on.ca\/fr\/","name":"ICES","description":"POPULATION-BASED HEALTH RESEARCH THAT MAKES A DIFFERENCE","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ices.on.ca\/fr\/#organization"},"alternateName":"Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ices.on.ca\/fr\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"fr-FR"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.ices.on.ca\/fr\/#organization","name":"ICES","alternateName":"Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences","url":"https:\/\/www.ices.on.ca\/fr\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"fr-FR","@id":"https:\/\/www.ices.on.ca\/fr\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ices.on.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/ices-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ices.on.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/ices-logo.png","width":"676","height":"618","caption":"ICES"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ices.on.ca\/fr\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ICESOntario\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/ices-research-institute\/"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ices.on.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/journal_article\/23955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ices.on.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/journal_article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ices.on.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/journal_article"}],"acf:post":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ices.on.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research_program\/6746"},{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ices.on.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/site\/6733"},{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ices.on.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ices_scientist\/1122"},{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ices.on.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ices_scientist\/1383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ices.on.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"migration-helper-automated","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ices.on.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/migration-helper-automated?post=23955"},{"taxonomy":"migration-manual","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ices.on.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/migration-manual?post=23955"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ices.on.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=23955"},{"taxonomy":"migration-helper-qa-sample-set","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ices.on.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/migration-helper-qa-sample-set?post=23955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}