**6. Conclusions**

Gout is a major health care burden in developed countries, where it affects about 1% to 2% of the adult population and is the most common cause of inflammatory arthritis in men. In addition to obesity and hyperuricemia, lifestyle changes that have developed in industrialized countries in recent decades, such as a diet rich in red meat and fructose, physical inactivity, and increased alcohol consumption, may play a role in the shift toward a younger age of manifestation of gout in the population and require early intervention. As there is evidence that early onset of hyperuricemia and gout is associated not only with a severe clinical course of gouty arthritis, but also with other comorbidities, such as hypertension, metabolic syndrome, and cardiovascular complications, early detection of hyperuricemia in younger patients with genetic predisposition and early uric acid-lowering therapy should be considered to reduce morbidity and mortality in these patients.

**Author Contributions:** R.E. and R.A.B. wrote the manuscript. Both authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version. Both authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This work was supported by the European Regional Development Fund of the European Commission (W21029490) to R.A.B and the Publication Fund of the Martin-Luther-University Halle/Wittenberg (VAT DE 811353703).

**Institutional Review Board Statement:** Not applicable.

**Informed Consent Statement:** Not applicable.

**Data Availability Statement:** Not applicable.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare that the review article was written in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
