Bad science reporting

This article about a new gout study is really quite annoying.

The headline: "Huge Study Shows Where Gout Comes From, And It's Not What We Thought". Pure clickbait. Nothing has changed the basic fact that gout is caused by a buildup of uric acid leading to micro crystals. The only thing the study has found is more genetic markers to make gout susceptibility more or less likely. Genetics having influence on these things is not surprising to anyone except perhaps blank slatists.

Gout is often associated with drinking too much or not eating healthily enough, but new research suggests genetics play more of a factor in developing the arthritic condition than previously thought.

Previously thought by whom? The "drinking too much" or "not eating healthily enough" are just proxy associations for things that can buildup uric acid too much; the traditional gout association is organ meats.

"Gout is a chronic disease with a genetic basis and is not the fault of the sufferer – the myth that gout is caused by lifestyle or diet needs to be busted," says epidemiologist Tony Merriman, from the University of Otago in New Zealand.

How can this be true, if we know that lifestyle and diet changes directly impact uric acid one way or another? I suppose there are individuals who seem to be doing everything right and truly have a chronic disorder that leads to persistently high uric acid levels no matter what, but this sounds more like a problem with their kidneys than anything else. Throwing those unfortunate people in with the same group that occasionally get gout flareups, especially after a diet trigger, to suggest that the latter group should feel guilt-free, is mistaken.

cases of the condition rising and rising.

How can this be true if it's so genetic determined?

"This widespread myth causes shame in people with gout, making some people more likely to suffer in silence and not go and see the doctor to get a preventive drug that lowers urate in the blood and will prevent their pain," says Merriman.

I have another theory: shame doesn't factor into it, just that the pain is either too much to physically go to the doctor, or the pain isn't too much to justify anything more than ibuprofen, vitamin c, and tart cherry extract for a while. Having to see a doctor is a bigger pain.

If the medical industry made allopurinol and indomethacin as easily available as ibuprofen, gout sufferers could easily treat themselves without having to see a doctor, whether or not they feel shame or not. That would be the best medical outcome.

I hate so much that so many drugs are locked behind a prescription. The medical industry deserves to fail.

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Posted on 2024-11-03 by Jach

Tags: medicine, rant, science

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