The Health Quality and Safety Commission’s Atlas of Healthcare variation (www.hqsc.govt.nz/atlas) shows that on average 41% of people with gout across New Zealand are regularly prescribed allopurinol. However, there is marked nationwide variation, with regular use of allopurinol ranging from 33% among people residing in the Auckland District Health Board (DHB) area to 47% in Nelson-Marlborough. These researchers sought to determine whether the quality of gout care varies in Aotearoa New Zealand primary care, using data from the New Zealand Atlas of Healthcare Variation to examine regularity of allopurinol dispensing, laboratory testing for serum urate, and acute hospitalisation for gout. For New Zealanders aged 20–79 years with gout, 57% were dispensed allopurinol in 2010/11. Of these, 69% were receiving allopurinol regularly, and only 34% of people dispensed allopurinol had serum urate testing in a 6-month period. The annual hospitalisation rate was 1% of people with gout. Māori and Pacific people with gout were less likely to be on regular allopurinol treatment, despite having more than twice the chance of being hospitalised with acute gout.
