ROCKVILLE, Md., May 22, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tuesday, May 22, is National Gout Awareness Day and the American Kidney Fund (AKF) is joining a nationwide effort to educate people about the connections between kidney disease and gout—an extremely painful form of arthritis that affects more than 8 million people annually. AKF will hold a Facebook Live event at 1 p.m. (EDT) on May 22, “The truth about gout and kidney disease,” to help kidney patients with gout better understand this chronic condition.
AKF’s Facebook Live event will feature a rheumatologist, Dr. Oliver J. Lawless, director of the Center for Arthritis, Immunology and Environmental Disorders, and Steven Winfree, a kidney transplant patient who suffers from chronic gout. It can be viewed on AKF’s Facebook page and viewers may pose questions to the participants.
The organization also announced two important new initiatives related to gout:
- AKF has joined the Alliance for Gout Awareness, a national coalition of diverse consumer and patient stakeholders working to reduce the stigma around gout and empower patients by improving public understanding of the disease.
- AKF is developing a national campaign around gout and kidney disease, expected to launch this summer. Aimed at people with chronic gout, the campaign will include educational information about gout as well as a downloadable tool for people to use as a resource. The campaign is supported by an educational grant from Horizon Pharma.
“It’s critical that we work together as a community to provide educational resources for kidney patients so they are better able to manage their gout and reduce painful symptoms,” said LaVarne A. Burton, president and chief executive officer of the American Kidney Fund. “We look forward to working with the Alliance for Gout Awareness to bring attention to this disease not only on National Gout Awareness Day, but all year long. And we are grateful to Horizon Pharma for its generous grant that will help us educate kidney patients and the public about the connection between kidney disease and gout.”
Gout is a painful form of inflammatory arthritis that can affect anyone when urate crystals form in the joints due to high levels of uric acid in the blood. The overproduction of crystals and the body’s under-excretion of them can lead to gout attacks, which often occur suddenly, commonly waking up people in the middle of the night with a burning sensation in the big toe. People with gout can also experience painful flares in their ankles, feet, knees, hands and wrists.
Because the kidneys filter and excrete uric acid, people with kidney disease are more likely to experience a buildup of urate crystals.
About the American Kidney Fund
As the nation’s leading nonprofit working on behalf of the 30 million Americans with kidney disease, the American Kidney Fund is dedicated to ensuring that every kidney patient has access to health care, and that every person at risk for kidney disease is empowered to prevent it. AKF provides a complete spectrum of programs and services: prevention outreach, top-rated health educational resources, and direct financial assistance enabling 1 in 5 U.S. dialysis patients to access lifesaving medical care, including dialysis and transplantation. AKF holds the highest ratings from the nation’s charity watchdog groups, including Charity Navigator, which includes AKF on its “top 10” list of nonprofits with the longest track records of outstanding stewardship of the donated dollar, and GuideStar, which has awarded AKF its Platinum Seal of Transparency.
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