The Sons of Gout Study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The sons of gout study - how early in life does monosodium urate crystal deposition actually begin?
IRAS ID
184436
Contact name
A Abhishek
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 5 months, 28 days
Research summary
The purpose of this study is to find out the age at which urate crystals begin to be deposited in the joints of people with high blood uric acid levels, and to find out if a simple hand held laser camera is able to reliably detect such deposits when compared to ultrasound scan.
We will invite sons of men with gout to take part in this study. We will select 200 men with high blood uric acid levels aged 20 and over who are yet to develop symptoms of gout and 50 men with normal blood urate levels and without a history of gout to participate in this study. We will not study women as they do not develop high urate levels till after menopause. During the study visit, participants will be asked health related questions, joint examination will be carried out, blood and urine sample will be collected, and ultrasound examination of several joints and tendons will be conducted. A hand held Raman Spectroscopy device will be used to examine the same areas and to examine how well it compares against ultrasound scan in the detection of urate crystal deposits. This study has several potential benefits. If urate crystal deposition is detected at a young age (e.g. during the 30s), this will change our perspective of gout and provide a rationale for screening of people at a high risk of gout, and treatment in those with confirmed but yet asymptomatic gout. Moreover, if Raman Spectroscopy is as good as ultrasound in detecting urate crystal deposits, then this test will be used to diagnose gout with greater ease, certainty, and at a lower cost, especially in the primary care.REC name
East Midlands - Nottingham 2 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/EM/0316
Date of REC Opinion
10 Sep 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion