Research Article
Alternate Warm and Cold Therapy (AWCT) on Uricemia, Sleep,
Pain, Functional Ability, and Quality of Life (USPFQoL) in
Patients with Gout: A Path Forward
Premalatha Paulsamy,
1
Krishnaraju Venkatesan ,
2
ShadiaHamoud Alshahrani,
3
Fazil Ahmad,
4
Mohamed El-Sherbiny,
5
Vani Manoharan,
6
Kalaiselvi Periannan,
7
RashaElsayed Ahmed,
8
Kousalya Prabahar,
9
andDawitmamiruteressa
10
1
College of Nursing, Mahalah Branch for Girls King Khalid University, Abha, Asir, Saudi Arabia
2
Department of Pharmacology, College of Pharmacy, King Khalid University, Abha, Asir, Saudi Arabia
3
College of Nursing, Mahalah Branch for Girls, King Khalid University, Abha, Asir, Saudi Arabia
4
DepartmentofAnesthesiaTechnology,CollegeofAppliedMedicalSciencesinJubail,ImamAb-dulrahmanBinFaisalUniversity,
P.O. Box 4030, Jubail, Saudi Arabia
5
DepartmentofBasicMedicalSciences,CollegeofMedicine,AlmaarefaUniversity,P.O.Box71666,Riyadh11597,SaudiArabia
6
Georgia CTSA, Emory University Hospital, Atlanta, GA, USA
7
Lecturer in Mental Health Nursing, Oxford School of Nursing & Midwifery, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences,
Oxford OX3 0FL, UK
8
Medical Surgical Nursing, College of Nursing Tanta University, Egypt and College of Nursing,
Mahalah Branch for Girls King Khalid University, Asir, Saudi Arabia
9
Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Tabuk, Tabuk 71491, Saudi Arabia
10
Department of Chemical Engineering, College of Biological and Chemical Engineering,
Addis Ababa Science and Technology University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Correspondence should be addressed to Krishnaraju Venkatesan; kvenkatesan@kku.edu.sa and Dawit mamiru teressa;
dawit.mamiru@aastustudent.edu.et
Received 11 January 2022; Accepted 8 February 2022; Published 9 March 2022
Academic Editor: Enas Abdulhay
Copyright © 2022 Premalatha Paulsamy et al. is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is
properly cited.
Objective. To understand the impact of alternate warm and cold therapy (AWCT) on uricemia, sleep, pain, functional ability, and
quality of life in gout patients. Methods. A quasiexperimental, nonequivalent control group, pre and posttest design was adopted
among 120 gout patients. e data were collected on demographics, comorbidities, pain level, joint swelling/joint tenderness,
patient global assessment of response to treatment (PGART), health-related quality of life (HRQoL) with SF-36, sleep quality by
Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and serum uric acid and assessed. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze
the data. Results. Patients had mean age of 58 and 61 years, mean number of comorbidities was 1.8 and 1.4, as well as presence of
arthritic comorbidities except gout was 1.1 and 0.8 among study and control group participants, respectively. Pain (p < 0.001),
PGART (p �−0.01), HRQoL, sleep quality, and level of SUA (mg/dl) improved significantly (p < 0.01) among the study group
over study periods. It affirms that the AWCT is effective in reducing pain, functional disability, and SUA, as well as improving the
sleep quality and HRQoL of the gout patients. ere was a reduced incidence of gout flares (p < 0.001), and taking additional
medicines for pain (p < 0.01) was statistically significant among study participants. Except social functioning, other domains of
health were significantly (p < 0.05) affected by the comorbidities like hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, renal disease, and
asthma/chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Conclusions. Gout is independently associated with higher medical and arthritic
comorbidity, and AWCTcan be better and cost-effective alternative therapy for gout patients. In addition, it may lead to improved
cardiac function, hypertension, and renal insufficiency.
Hindawi
Journal of Healthcare Engineering
Volume 2022, Article ID 5471575, 8 pages
https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/5471575