About 10% of patients with gout will have diabetes mellitu3. Of our 89 patients with both diseases, 74 (83%) have insulin-independent diabetes and in 2 of 3 gout developed first. Obesity is a frequent concomitant (65 patients, 73%), and perhaps represents the common etiologic basis for both metabolic abnormalities in this type of patient. The excessive use of food and drink probably heightens the chances of one or both disorders developing. Physicians should be aware of this concomitance and attempt the early detection of diabetes in appropriate cases of gout. Insulin-dependent diabetes was uncommon in our patients (15 patients, 17%). One need not expect the frequent development of gout in patients with diabetes. Only 1 in 100 of our patients with diabetes has gout.