Objective To investigate the reliability and validity of the medical outcomes by applying short form-36 (SF-36) in evaluating gout patients’ health related quality of life (HRQOL).Methods Gout patientswere enrolled between March 2016 and June 2016 in Foshan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine.Patients completed the SF-36 questionnaire.Summary scores,physical component summary (PCS) and mental component summary (MCS) were calculated by summing factor-weighted scores across all 8 subscales,with factor weights derived from general population.The indicators of reliability and validity included internal consistency,test-retest reliability,structural and discriminant validity,ceiling and floor effect.Results Totally 306 patients were enrolled.The internal consistency test showed that the Cronbach α coefficients ranged from 0.782 to 0.822,and the test-retest reliability coefficients ranged from 0.720 to 0.986 (P＜0.01).Structural validity analysis showed that there were two items whose eigenvalues were greater than one with the cumulative contribution rate of 66.1％.The discriminant validity analysis found that patients with more numbers of tophi,higher frequency of flare,multi-arthrosis involved and more complications had less scores of PCS and MCS (P＜0.05).There was a high ceiling effect on physiological function and a higher ceiling and floor effect on role limitation and emotional function caused hy impaired physical health.Conclusion The SF-36 can be used for the assessment of HRQOL in Chinese gout patients but disease specific questionnaire are warranted.