The study shows that elevated uric acid predicts metabolic anomalies in 5 years; such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, low kidney function, increased body weight, and tendency for diabetes type 2.

Although research was done in a Japanese cohort, results could apply to other populations, given the established association between hyperuricemia and metabolic syndrome.

Findings could be clinically relevant as uric acid test is overall inexpensive but yet able identifying higher risk individuals, who could benefit from closer observation and earlier lifestyle modifications.

GT

Hypertension

Prospective Study

April 2017

Whether asymptomatic hyperuricemia in the absence of comorbidities increases the risk for cardiometabolic disorders and chronic kidney disease remains controversial. This study was conducted to clarify the association between asymptomatic hyperuricemia and cardiometabolic conditions.

Subjects consisting of Japanese adults between 30-85 years of age were enrolled in the study at Center for Preventive Medicine, St Luke’s International Hospital, Tokyo, and were available at enrollment (2004) and at 5-year follow-up (2009).

Subjects were excluded if they were overweight or obese, hypertensive, diabetic, and dyslipidemic, had a history of gout or hyperuricemia on medications, or had chronic kidney disease as eGFR <60. Linear and logistic regression analyses were used to examine the relationship between hyperuricemia and development of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, chronic kidney disease, and overweight/obesity (unadjusted and adjusted for age, sex, smoking, drinking habits, baseline estimated glomerular filtration rate, and body mass index).

A group of 5,899 subjects without comorbidities, mean age of 47, were followed for 5 years. Hyperuricemia (defined as >7 in men and ≥6 in women) was associated with increased cumulative incidence of hypertension (14.9% versus 6.1%; P<0.001), dyslipidemia (23.1% versus 15.5%; P<0.001), chronic kidney disease (19.0% versus 10.7%; P<0.001), and overweight/obesity (8.9% versus 3.0%; P<0.001), while diabetes mellitus (1.7% versus 0.9%; P=0.087) showed a trend but did not reach statistical significance.

In conclusion, asymptomatic hyperuricemia carries a significant risk for developing cardiometabolic conditions in Japanese individual without comorbidities.