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Table 4 Management of gout in films and television episodes in which management was depicted (n=22 films and television episodes)

From: “An apple pie a day does not keep the doctor away”: Fictional depictions of gout in contemporary film and television

Management strategy

Total

N=22

Historical setting

N=3a

Modern-day setting

N=19

Example

Dietary management

8/22, 36%

3/3, 100%

5/19, 26%

Doctor: “What you need to do is quit pumping your boy full of purine-rich foods.” (King of the Hill, S3Ep18, Fox Network)

Analgesia

7/22, 32%

0, 0%

7/19, 37%

Howard Wolowitz: “I gave her enough pain meds to choke a … well, her.” (The Big Bang Theory, S7Ep9, CBS)

NSAIDs

3/22, 14%

0, 0%

3/19, 16%

Dr Brenner: “Well, gout usually responds better to aspirin” (Off the Map, S1Ep10, ABC)

Urate-lowering therapy

1/22, 5%

0, 0%

1/19, 5%

Dr Ellingham: “allopurinol … that’s a long-term solution.” (Doc Martin, S8Ep7, ITV)

Serum urate monitoring

1/22, 5%

0, 0%

1/19, 5%

Dr Ellingham: “test your blood to see if you’d benefit from allopurinol” (Doc Martin, S8Ep7, ITV)

  1. aOne episode had two characters with gout, these were counted separately