Does gout affect fertility?

Gout patients need to pay attention to their daily diet and try not to eat high-purine foods, so as to alleviate the phenomenon of increased uric acid. Once gout attacks, it will cause joint pain. Some people may even have tophi on their ears in severe cases. Some people may also have deformed joints and finger joints, etc., which will seriously affect their daily life. Some people worry that gout will affect their fertility.

Does gout affect fertility?

Gout generally does not affect fertility, but it can affect kidney function, cause metabolic abnormalities, etc., which may have a slight indirect effect.

Generally speaking, gout has no effect on fertility. Gout is a metabolic disease. The root cause is uric acid metabolism disorder, which leads to excessively high uric acid concentration in the blood, causing a group of diseases.

Long-term elevated uric acid levels will deposit in the joints and surrounding tissues, causing gouty arthritis and organ damage. Gouty nephropathy and kidney stones are common.

In daily life, you should pay attention to eating in moderation, strictly abstain from alcohol, avoid the intake of high-purine foods, eat more alkaline foods or beverages, drink plenty of water to promote uric acid excretion, and obese people should control and lose weight.

Gout hazards

1. Joint disability

When the uric acid level in the body rises beyond the body's tolerance, the uric acid will form crystals and deposit in the joints, skin, blood vessels, etc., making inflammation more likely to occur. Repeated attacks of gout lead to chronic gouty arthritis, which in turn causes attacks to become more frequent and the intervals between attacks to become shorter. The pain gradually intensifies, and the most commonly affected joints are the knees, ankles, and elbows. In severe cases, it can affect the shoulders, hips, and spine, which can easily induce joint damage and deformity, leading to joint disability.

2. Hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia and hyperuricemia occur concurrently

Hypertriglyceridemia (HTG) is a hyperlipidemia with a high incidence in my country. With the change of people's dietary structure, the incidence of HTG has increased year by year.

HTG can not only be accompanied by hyperuricemia, but also cause abnormal glucose metabolism, further aggravating coronary heart disease, arteriosclerosis, diabetes and other diseases. Therefore, the abnormal interaction of lipid, uric acid and sugar metabolism has attracted more and more attention.

Hyperlipidemia has a high incidence of hyperuricemia. 82% of HTG patients have hyperuricemia, and 75% to 84% of gout patients have HTG.

3. Damage to the kidneys

Gout patients have relatively high uric acid levels in their bodies, and large amounts of urate are deposited in the kidneys, eventually leading to kidney disease. According to WHO statistics, 1/4 of gout patients will experience renal failure and develop severe uremia.

4. Gout stones

The formation of tophi is the result of tissue damage caused by long-term hyperuricemia and is a characteristic lesion of gout. It is deposited in the joint capsule, affecting joint movement. It can cause "punch-hole"-like damage to the bone and, in severe cases, can lead to fractures. Joint dislocation and deformity; after tophi rupture, they are difficult to heal and can easily lead to the tragedy of amputation.

5. Life-threatening

Simple hyperuricemia and general gouty arthritis attacks will not directly cause the patient's death, but are often caused by complications of other diseases. For example, kidney disease caused by gout. A small number of gout patients will have a significant increase in blood uric acid during an acute attack of gout, which may lead to acute renal failure and death in a short period of time.