Global hyperuricemia rate doubles in 2 decades
- 20-02-2026
- Hyperuricemia and Gout
- Editor's Choice
- News
medwireNews: The estimated number of people living with hyperuricemia has more than doubled in the past 2 decades, with the increase not solely driven by population growth and aging but also rising prevalence, research shows.
“These findings highlight the need to integrate hyperuricaemia into non-communicable disease surveillance systems and to implement targeted prevention and early management strategies to mitigate the associated metabolic and cardiovascular complications,” write Jean Joel Bigna (Soa District Hospital, Cameroon) and co-authors in The Lancet Rheumatology.
Bigna and team carried out a systematic review and modelling analysis to provide the first standardized global, regional, and national estimates of hyperuricemia prevalence across 200 countries and territories from 2000 to 2023. The analysis included data from 420 studies comprising 7,488,451 adults in 34 countries.
The model estimated that over the study period the global prevalence of hyperuricemia increased from 6.7% to 11.2% in women and from 12.3% to 18.6% in men, corresponding to more than 800 million affected adults worldwide in 2023.
Specifically, the number of women with hyperuricemia rose from 126 million in 2000 to 305 million in 2023, while for men the prevalence increased from 226 million to 500 million. For women, 53.1% of this increase was explained by population growth and aging, 27.7% by increased prevalence, and 19.2% by the interaction between both. In men, the corresponding proportions were 45.4%, 37.0%, and 17.6%.
The researchers report that prevalence was consistently higher in high-income and urban settings and increased with age. At younger ages, men had higher prevalence than women, but the difference between the two groups narrowed with increasing age.
Polynesia and Micronesia exhibit highest regional hyperuricemia rate
At a regional level, Bigna et al observed increased hyperuricemia prevalence across all regions, with the largest absolute increases in Polynesia and Micronesia among women (9.2 percentage points) and in East Asia among men (10.8 percentage points).
In 2023, regional prevalence in women ranged from 4.0% in North Africa and the Middle East to 42.6% in Polynesia and Micronesia, and in men it ranged from 7.5% in central Asia to 36.5% in Polynesia and Micronesia.
The higher rate among women versus men in Polynesia and Micronesia “is particularly noteworthy,” say the researchers.
They write: “Although estimates remain uncertain, they might reflect the strong genetic predisposition in Pacific populations interacting with sex-specific metabolic factors such as obesity and insulin resistance, as well as sociocultural influences.
“These findings suggest that women in these regions could represent a particularly vulnerable group and highlight the need for further targeted research.”
Most countries have experienced increased prevalence
At the country level, the investigators found that the prevalence of hyperuricemia among women increased in 199 countries and territories, while among men it increased in 195, with the rates doubling in 28 and seven countries, respectively.
In 2023, country-level prevalence ranged from 1.4% in Yemen to 55.8% in the Cook Islands among women, and from 3.7% to 46.5% in the same countries among men. Bermuda recorded the greatest increases in prevalence during the study period, at 15.4 and 17.9 percentage points in women and men, respectively.
Bigna et al conclude that their findings “can offer physicians, policy makers, and public health practitioners an actionable evidence base to inform prevention, early detection, and management strategies for hyperuricaemia and its related complications, and to integrate this condition into broader non‑communicable disease frameworks—where it has so far been neglected.”
They add: “Without coordinated global and local action to address modifiable risks, strengthen surveillance, and target high-risk populations, the clinical, epidemiological, and economic consequences of hyperuricaemia will continue to escalate in the coming decades.”
medwireNews is an independent medical news service provided by Springer Healthcare Ltd. © 2026 Springer Healthcare Ltd, part of Springer Nature
