PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Lorna E. Clarson AU - Samantha L. Hider AU - John Belcher AU - Edward Roddy AU - Christian D. Mallen TI - Factors Influencing Allopurinol Initiation in Primary Care AID - 10.1370/afm.2137 DP - 2017 Nov 01 TA - The Annals of Family Medicine PG - 557--560 VI - 15 IP - 6 4099 - http://www.annfammed.org/content/15/6/557.short 4100 - http://www.annfammed.org/content/15/6/557.full SO - Ann Fam Med2017 Nov 01; 15 AB - Despite guidance on appropriate initiation, urate-lowering therapy is prescribed for only a minority of patients with gout. Electronic health records for 8,142 patients with gout were used to investigate the effect of age, sex, comorbidities, number of consultations, and meeting internationally agreed eligibility criteria on time to allopurinol initiation. Time to first prescription was modeled using multilevel Cox proportional hazards regression. Allopurinol initiation was positively associated with meeting eligibility criteria at diagnosis of gout, but negatively associated with becoming eligible after diagnosis. Managing gout as a chronic disease, with regular reviews to discuss allopurinol treatment, may reduce barriers to treatment.