Gout

Clinical Trial Patient
Recruitment

Recruiting patients with gout, using direct-to-patient and caregiver targeting, screening, and engagement support



Patient Recruitment for Gout Clinical Trials: Understanding Patient Perspectives



Gout is known to affect more than 50 million people worldwide, and it is estimated that about 2.5% of the US population is affected. Five Gout trials are expected to start in the next 12 months, and more than 100 are currently recruiting patients.



Clinical research plays a crucial part in understanding and approving treatment options for the condition, and the patient profile is variable based on age, gender, ethnicity, genetics, lifestyle factors, medical history, environmental factors, and psychosocial factors. This therapeutic area brief provides a look at the Gout patient profile and highlights why Direct-to-Patient advertising is an ideal approach for recruiting patients for clinical research in this condition.

Gout Patient Profiles

Gout typically affects older adults, and the likelihood of having the condition increases with age. For men, the highest risk period is between the ages of 30 and 50, while for women, it typically occurs after menopause. Traditionally, gout has been more common in men, but in recent years, the number of cases in women has been growing.

Medical History: Hyperuricemia, family history

Gout is caused by caused by deposits of uric acid crystals in the joints and soft tissues, and elevated uric acid levels in the blood are a precursor to gout, often common present years before the individual first experiences a gout attack. A family history of gout also increases the risk of developing the condition.

Lifestyle Factors: Diet, obesity

As elevated uric acid levels are a precursor to developing gout, a diet with a high intake of purine-rich foods, like red meat, organ meats, seafood, and specific types of alcohol, can increase the risk of gout attacks. Excess body weight, especially central obesity, is also associated with an increased risk.

Psychosocial Factors: Stress, mental health

Chronic stress has the potential to trigger gout attacks or worsen its symptoms due to stress’ impact on inflammation and immune function. There are also associations between gout and some mental health conditions, which can influence disease management and treatment outcomes.

Environmental Factors: Climate, occupational exposure

Gout attacks appear to be more common in colder climates, particularly due to changes in lifestyle and diet during colder months. There are occupations that are tied to increase risk as well. Those that involve prolonged standing or heavy physical activity can increase the risk of gout due to stress on the joints and dehydration.

Standard Diagnostic and Treatment Path

Individuals experiencing a gout attack may begin with their Primary Care Physician or even an Urgent Care provider as they experience significant pain. Either provider can diagnose gout and then support the patient with a treatment plan. Gout treatment also often involves a Rheumatologist and additional testing modalities like blood tests, x-rays, DECT, and ultrasound. Often, gout treatment will be coupled with lifestyle modifications and remedies at home. Those will include limiting sweetened beverages and choosing beverages that promote better hydration. Diet modification includes reducing consumption of foods high in purines. Finally, regular, low-impact, exercise and weight loss are often recommended, as a healthy weight reduces the risk of gout.

There are several acute and long term medication options available for gout, including NSAIDs or colchicine to reduce acute pain and inflammation, or corticosteroids for those who are not able to use those medications. Long term medication is designed to prevent future attacks and typically involves urate-lowering therapies.

Thousands of individuals have participated in gout research, either instead of or in addition to the standard treatment methodology. With clinical research, patients often receive access to new therapies or treatments, as well as even more comprehensive monitoring and care. For those with more limited access to healthcare, clinical research opens treatment pathways with a lower financial burden.

Unlocking access to individuals with Gout

It can be challenging to recruit for Gout clinical trials, like in many conditions, due to:

  1. Low awareness of and research about clinical trials
  2. Strict eligibility criteria
  3. Comorbidities and polypharmacy
  4. Geographical access
  5. Patient preferences
  6. Physician engagement

Despite these challenges, Direct-to-Patient Advertising as a recruitment approach is powerful in this population.

Gout has been searched, on average, 450,000 times per month for the last year. With this condition, parents are often turning first to online sources for information and education about their diagnosed or suspected painful condition as well as treatment and therapeutic management for the condition.

With that activity, an online profile begins to evolve, and by using sophisticated targeting and screening algorithms, Sponsors can put information about clinical research directly in front of people who are already seeking information outside of the traditional physician-led approach. Direct-to-patient recruitment builds awareness and empowers patients (or their caregivers) to seek best-fit solutions for the condition.

AutoCruitment's Gout Experience: A Snapshot

6

AutoCruitment has completed 23 Immunology & Rheumatology Studies, with 6 in Gout

74%

Average increase in enrollment rate

9.2 months

Average time saved

About AutoCruitment

AutoCruitment helps life sciences companies accelerate patient recruitment.

AutoCruitment’s technology-backed, full service, global, direct to patient digital advertising approach targets, recruits, and screens more of the right patients quickly to eliminate the patient recruitment bottleneck. The full clinical trial recruitment and enrollment process is seamless with AutoCruitment’s dedicated Project Management and Site & Patient Engagement teams, transparent, real-time reporting, and a secure user-friendly Patient Management Portal.

AutoCruitment’s patient recruitment platform supports Sponsors, CRO Partners and Research Sites by decreasing time, risk and cost to bring new therapies to market.

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