Objective: Gout is a chronic disease caused by the deposition of sodium urate (MSU) crystals. Available data on the association between environmental hazards and gout are scarce. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between short-term exposure to air pollution and hospitalizations for gout from 2016 to 2020 in Anqing City, China.

Methods: Generalized linear regression was used to examine the association between air pollution (NO₂, O₃, and CO) and gout, and stratified analyses by gender, age and season were conducted.

Results: There were 8,675 hospitalizations for gout in Anqing City during the study period. We observed an obvious association between NO₂ and hospitalizations for gout (lag 0, RR:1.022, 95%CI:1.004-1.041, per 10μg/m³ increase in NO₂ concentration). For every 1 mg/m³ increase in CO concentration, hospitalizations for gout increased by 3.9% (RR=1.039, 95%CI:1.004-1.076, lag 11 days). Intriguingly, there was a negative relationship between O₃ and hospitalizations for gout (lag0, RR=0.986, 95%CI: 0.976-0.996, for every 10 μg/m³ increase in O₃ concentration). Stratified analyses showed that exposure to high levels of NO₂ and CO during cold season was dramatically associated with increased risk of hospitalizations for gout.

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that patients with gout need to take preemptive actions during high air pollution days to avoid hospitalizations.