COPAGO

Background

Acute gout attacks with severe joint pain are nearly always treated by general practitioners. Unfortunately, there are few studies on the management of this condition.
This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of colchicine and prednisolone in the primary care setting.

Design:

This randomized, double-blind study will be conducted in 60 practices in the regions of Würzburg, Göttingen and Greifswald and will include 314 participants (recruitment period: 30 months).
Patients will be randomly assigned to one of the treatment arms, neither physician nor patient knowing which treatment is being applied.
As part of the study and to confirm the gout diagnosis by imaging, patients will be offered a dual energy CT (cooperation with the Institute for Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology at the University Hospital of Würzburg).

Requirements for participation

Participating practice teams will be provided a mandatory free GCP basic course for investigator and the involved physician assistant or a free GCP advanced course for investigator. Practices will also receive a fixed set up-fee and per patient reimbursement for their participation.

Participants in the COPAGO Study

The COPAGO Study is led by the Institute for General Medicine Greifswald. Further project partners are:

• University Hospital Göttingen, Department of General Practice, Göttingen, Germany