If an illness can have a stereotype, gout has one: its poster boy is a portly, wealthy gentleman who drinks too much red wine and eats too much rich food. In literature, gout is an Epicurean affliction, the runoff of opulence and “disease of kings.”

In fact, gout attacks the poor as well as the rich; it’s more like a creepy shadow that follows other diseases, piggybacks off of their risk factors, and kicks sick people when they’re down. It is also becoming more common. Read more

American men need a baseline PSA test and rectal exam to check for prostate cancer in their forties, and then they need follow-up screening at regular intervals – maybe every five years, if the PSA number is low and nothing feels abnormal in the exam, or maybe more often, depending on the number. Men who are at higher risk – men with a family history of prostate cancer and other forms of cancer, and African American men – need to start screening earlier, ideally at age 40.

Have you been screened yet? If not, why not? Read more