Objective To develop an automatic gout register to improve gout management.

Methods We analysed the electronic health records (EHR) of all patients >18 years old from a tertiary academic hospital (2013-2022) based on six criteria: International Classification of Diseases 10 (ICD-10) gout diagnosis, urate-lowering therapy (ULT) prescription, uric acid crystal in joint aspiration and gout-related terms in problem lists, clinical or imaging reports. We assessed the positive and negative predictive value (PPV and NPV) of the query by chart reviews.

Results Of 2,110,902 out- and inpatients, 10,289 had at least one criterion for gout. The combination of joint aspiration OR diagnostic in the problem list OR ≥ 2 other criteria created a register of 5,138 patients, with a PPV of 92.4% (95%CI: 88.5 to 95.0), and an NPV of 94.3% (95%CI: 91.9 to 96.0). PPV and NPV were similar amongst outpatients and inpatients. Incidence was 2.9 per 1000 person-year and dropped by 30% from the COVID-19 pandemic onward. Patients with gout were on average 71.2 years old (SD 14.9), mainly male (76.5%), overweight (69.5%) and polymorbid (mean number of comorbidities of 3, IQR 1-5). More than half (57.4%) had received a urate lowering treatment, 6.7% had a gout that led to a hospitalisation or ≥2 flares within a year, and 32.9% received a rheumatology consultation.

Conclusion An automatic EHR-based gout register is feasible, valid and could be used to evaluate and improve gout management. Interestingly, the register uncovered a marked underdiagnosis or underreporting of gout since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Key messages What is already known on this topic?

- Gout is the most prevalent inflammatory arthritis, but it remains undertreated despite affordable and effective treatment options.

- Quantifying this undertreatment and detecting its causes and risk factors to pilot quality improvement initiative requires an extensive register of gout patients.

What this study adds?

- This is the first automatic EHR-based gout register, allowing frequent, inexpensive, and sustainable updates.

- The automated queries show high positive and negative predictive values to identify gout patients.

How this study might affect research, practice or policy?

- This register can facilitate the assessment of the adequacy of gout management and the monitoring of quality indicators following improvement projects, or change in policies

- It provides an easy platform for cohort studies or adaptive trials

- Its methodology is reproducible, facilitating the establishment of gout or other disease registers within different EHR systems

The authors have declared no competing interest.

This project was funded by the Private Foundation of the Geneva University Hospitals, a not-for-profit foundation.

I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained.

Yes

The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:

The creation and use of the register for quality improvement programs has been approved by the Geneva ethics commission (CCER 2023-00129).

I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals.

Yes

I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance).

Yes

I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable.

Yes

All data produced in the present study are available upon reasonable request to the authors