Baseline characteristics of the two matched cohorts of patients with newly diagnosed gout either treated with or without allopurinol.

*Wilcoxon's signed rank test (2-sided P value).The 2 cohorts were matched for age at gout diagnosis, gender, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, atrial fibrillation and index date. In addition, both cohorts were balanced in terms of Charlson's comorbidities index (CCI), acute kidney injury and hepatitis etc.