There is currently a lack of biomarkers to assist the diagnosis and prediction of primary gouty arthritis (PG). Therefore, we evaluated the clinical value of programmed cell death protein 1 (PD‐1) mRNA expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of patients with PG. This study included 36 patients with acute phase PG (APPG), 48 with non‐acute phase PG (NAPPG), 42 with asymptomatic hyperuricemia (AH) and 79 normal controls (NCs). PD‐1 mRNA expression levels were detected by qRT‐PCR. PD‐1 mRNA expression was statistically analysed by ANOVA or t tests, while correlations between PD‐1 mRNA and clinical variables were assessed using Pearson correlation tests. Receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to evaluate the diagnostic value of PD‐1 in different PG stages. PD‐1 mRNA expression was significantly lower in patients with APPG than that in NAPPG, AH and NCs (P