Elderly dying after gout treatment overdoses
A spate of overdoses of a treatment for gout, one of them fatal, has prompted a message to GPs to consider lower-dose prescriptions. In the past fortnight, three elderly patients were admitted to hospital after taking too much colchicine, used to treat acute gout.
A spate of overdoses of a treatment for gout, one of them fatal, has prompted a message to GPs to consider lower-dose prescriptions.
In the past fortnight, three elderly patients were admitted to hospital after taking too much colchicine, used to treat acute gout.
Gout is a kind of arthritis that occurs when uric acid builds up in the joints.
Acute gout is a painful condition that typically affects one joint. Chronic gout is repeated episodes of pain and inflammation, which may involve more than one joint.
All three elderly people experienced vomiting and diarrhoea after taking higher than recommended doses of the drug, according to a letter from doctors at Sydney’s St Vincent’s Hospital, published in the Medical Journal of Australia.
Colchicine is used for patients who cannot take anti-inflammatory drugs, the usual treatment for gout.
“A recent randomised control trial demonstrated that low-dose colchicine was as effective as a higher dose,” said Dr Darren Roberts from the hospital’s clinical pharmacology and toxicology department.
A 67-year-old woman died within 24 hours of arriving at the hospital after she rapidly developed multi-organ failure, the doctors wrote. An 87-year-old man and a 77-year-old woman have both recovered.
Gout is caused by having higher-than-normal levels of uric acid in your body. Your body may make too much uric acid, or have a hard time getting rid of uric acid.
If too much uric acid builds up in the fluid around the joints (synovial fluid), uric acid crystals form. These crystals cause the joint to swell up and become inflamed.
The exact cause of gout is unknown. Gout may run in families. It is more common in males, postmenopausal women, and people who drink alcohol.
People who take certain medicines, such as hydrochlorothiazide and other water pills, may have higher levels of uric acid in the blood.
