OBJECTIVES: Gout, a common arthritis, causes significant burden on patient’s quality of life and the health-care system. The objectives of this study were to understand a gout population in terms of demographics, clinical characteristics, healthcare utilization and costs versus a gout-free population. METHODS: This retrospective study is one portion of an overall gout study, which used data extracted from IMS Evidence 360 EMR Canada, a primary care electronic medical records database in Ontario. Gout patients were selected if they had ≥1 gout diagnosis and/or ≥1 gout medication claim (index date) from 1 July 2008 to 30 June 2012. Gout patients were matched 1:5 to gout-free patients based on demographics and comorbidities using an adapted version of the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI). All patients were followed for two years post-index date. Costs were limited to primary care physician visits. RESULTS: There were 676 gout patients; 77% were male with mean age of 58 years, which matched closely to gout-free patients. Mean CCI score at baseline was 1.08 in both groups. Over the two-year follow-up, gout patients were significantly more likely to have cardiovascular disease (61% vs. 40%), dyslipidemia (43% vs. 29%), obesity (26% vs. 14%), and diabetes (22% vs. 17%, all p<0.01) vs the gout-free cohort. Gout patients’ lab results (BMI, BP, eGFR, lipids) deviated from normal more than gout-free controls. Gout patients incurred a significantly higher number of annual physician visits (5 vs. 2.5), lab tests (24 vs. 4.5), and had a greater percentage with specialist referrals (58% vs. 46%, all p<0.0001) leading to higher healthcare costs. CONCLUSIONS: Gout is associated with high disease burden in a Canadian primary care setting, which is consistent with previous publications. Gout patients were more likely to have significant comorbidities, farther-from-normal lab results, and higher healthcare utilization and costs compared to gout-free patients.