The Role of Lead in Gout Nephropathy

UNTIL recently, renal disease was considered a major cause of death among patients with gout.1 Modern long-term follow-up studies of renal function, however, have indicated that hyperuricemia and gout rarely result in kidney damage unless other renal disease supervenes.2 3 4 These conflicting views of the occurrence of renal disease in gout might be reconciled if a single agent could be identified as a cause of both gout and renal disease in some patients. Lead is a likely candidate for such an agent, since this heavy metal has long been recognized as a causative factor in both gout and nephropathy.5 To test . . .