The gout-related information section was structured with overview, causes, risk factors, symptoms, diagnosis, progress, treatments, and complications. The self-management section consisted of diet/nutrition, weight control, alcohol management, exercise, and pain and stress management. The program included bulletin board and expert section to promote bidirectional interactions between program users and providers. Self-assessment tool of gout stages and self-management checklist were provided. Program contents and ease of site navigation (http://goutin.kr) were found to be appropriate and satisfactory to both patient and expert groups.

Aims To examine the presence of symptom clusters and synergistic effects of symptom clusters on quality of life in rheumatoid arthritis patients. Background Rheumatoid arthritis patients frequently experience multiple concurrent symptoms of pain, fatigue, and depression. Design A nonexperimental, cross‐sectional correlation design. Methods The study participants were 179 rheumatoid arthritis patients. Data were collected between August and December 2016. A hypothetical model was developed based on the Theory of Unpleasant Symptoms Model: physiological antecedents included disease activity and obesity; symptoms of pain, fatigue, and depression were hypothesized as being clustered, and quality of life was taken as the outcome variable. Results Disease activity had significant direct effects on pain, fatigue, and depression and indirect effects on fatigue and depression, whereas obesity had a significant direct effect on fatigue alone. Three symptom clusters, namely, pain fatigue, fatigue depression, and pain‐fatigue depression were identified and found to have significant synergistic effects on quality of life. Conclusions Our findings support the importance of managing clusters of symptoms simultaneously, that is, collective symptom management. Inter‐cluster dynamics between symptoms should be considered when nurses develop symptom management strategies or self‐management programs to improve the quality of life of rheumatoid arthritis patients.

BACKGROUND: Rheumatic disease and gout are particularly known to be associated with metabolic syndrome. PURPOSE: To compare incidence, physiological indices, and risk factors of metabolic syndrome in patients with rheumatic diseases or gout. METHODS: Data were collected from medical records of 220 patients with rheumatic disease or gout. RESULTS: The incidence rate and most physiological indices of metabolic syndrome (body mass index, blood pressure, serum triglyceride, and fasting blood glucose levels) were significantly higher in the gout group than in the rheumatic disease group. In terms of risk factors of metabolic syndrome, age, gender, and steroid use were significant in the rheumatic disease group, whereas smoking and gout duration were significant in the gout group. CONCLUSIONS: Men with a rheumatic disease taking steroids warrant additional attention regarding metabolic syndrome development. Special supports are also needed for people with gout who are smokers and who have suffered from gout for a longer duration.