The Analysis of Published Research on Gout and Hyperuricemia from Pakistan in National Biomedical Literature

Abstract

Objective: This study analyzed the published research on gout and hyperuricemia in the national biomedical journals with an aim to highlight the research gaps in the management of gout and hyperuricemia in Pakistan. Methods: An online literature survey on global databases (Medline and Google Scholar) and local Pakistani database Pak Medinet was conducted from January to March 2018. Different keywords on gout and hyperuricemia in Pakistan were combined using Boolean operators. We included all kinds of manuscripts reporting work specifically related to gout or hyperuricemia from Pakistan and having the corresponding author or at least one author with an affiliation from a Pakistani institution. We also considered manuscript published on this topic in Pakistani journals by authors affiliated with other countries. Results: Thirty-four manuscripts were selected for review and analysis. Thirty-one manuscripts were written by local authors affiliated with institutions located in different cities of Pakistan. Five manuscripts had foreign authors, out of which two were authored by all Turkish authors, but others had Pakistani co- authors too. Most of the Manuscripts were published in the category of original research article. None of them was a randomized clinical trial (RCT). Conclusion: The number and quality of studies published on gout and hyper-uricemia from Pakistan is low. There is a need to conduct more epidemiological and interventional studies to know the actual burden of gout in the country and RCTs to compare different drug treatments for managing gout in the local population.