The global gout incidence has increased by 63.44% over the past two decades, with the sex ratio remaining consistent at 3:1 (male to female)¹. Globally, the prevalence of the age effect increases steadily from the age of 30 years in both sexes¹.

Meanwhile in Malaysia, there are no local population-based epidemiologic studies on gout. However, hospital-based studies from a few tertiary centres reported a peak age of gout onset from 30 to 60 years².

What is gout?

Gout is one of the most common joint diseases. Attacks usually occur very quickly, often overnight, unlike most other forms of arthritis.

Symptoms: The first sign of a gout attack is a warm throbbing of the affected joint. The pain can quickly become excruciating, along with swelling and redness around the affected joint, painful to the touch.

What causes gout?

Gout is caused by raised uric acid levels in the blood, called hyperuricemia. Uric acid is a waste product from the breakdown of purine, a substance made within our body and found in many food products.

Uric acid crystals could form on the joints, causing swelling and pain.

The risk factors for the development of gout can be categorized as modifiable (meaning you can take measures to control or change them), and non-modifiable (cannot be changed).

Treatment and prevention

With proper diagnosis and management including weight and diet control, gout can be controlled. For gout patients, you are advised to consult your medical practitioner first before using any medicine that can help reduce your uric acid content.

For the long term, it is recommended that gout sufferers remove the contributing factors that could raise the uric acid level in the body, such as being overweight, excessive alcohol consumption, trigger foods, and insufficient water consumption.

Ural

Ural is an effective urinary alkalinizer for gout.

Made in Australia, Ural is a sugar-free, lemon-flavoured urinary alkalinizer that is palatable and easy to consume.

It is effective because the sodium bicarbonate in Ural increases the excretion of bicarbonate ions in the urine and raises the pH value of urine. A rise in urinary pH makes the urine become more alkaline and will promote the dissolution of uric acid crystals.

By maintaining alkaline urine, the actual dissolution of uric acid stones may be accomplished. Ural helps to prevent the crystallisation of uric acid crystals in gout therapy and the dissolution of uric acid stones.

Help reduce your uric acid levels with Ural today!

Ural is available in all leading pharmacies nationwide.

This is a medicine product advertisement.

Reference:

1. He Q, et al. Global, Regional, and National Prevalence of Gout From 1990 to 2019: Age-Period-Cohort Analysis With Future Burden Prediction. JMIR Public Health Surveill. 2023; 9: e45943.

2. Clinical Practice Guidelines. Management of Gout 2nd edition. MoH Malaysia, 2021.

KKLIU 2014 / EXP 31.12.2025