A new study has found that common medications prescribed for gout are linked to a reduced risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke. The study, conducted by the University of Nottingham in the UK, involved over 100,000 patients with the common form of inflammatory arthritis. The researchers compared individuals with uric acid levels above and below the medically recognized threshold of 6 mg/dL as doctors adjusted their doses. Those whose uric Acid levels dropped below this threshold also had a 9 percent lower risk of a significant cardiovascular event over the 5-year study period. This is the first study to find that medicines such as allopurinol that are used to treat gout reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke if they are taken at the right dose. However, further study will be needed to confirm the association.