In 1683, Thomas Sydenham, an English physician, described its occurrence in the early hours of the morning, and its predilection for older males:Gouty patients are, generally, either old men, or men who have so worn themselves out in youth as to have brought on a premature old age—of such dissolute habits none being more common than the premature and excessive indulgence in venery, and the like exhausting passions.
Bolezen je postala običajna na Kitajskem, v Polineziji in urbani podsaharski Afriki.