Serum Uric Acid "Strong Predictor" of Death in Middle-Aged Men
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Jul 29 - In middle-aged men, elevated serum uric acid levels are a strong and independent predictor of death from cardiovascular disease (CVD) and all causes, according to results of a prospective cohort study published this week in the July 26th Archives of Internal Medicine.
"Despite abundant epidemiologic evidence, the role of elevated serum uric acid level as a cardiovascular risk factor is controversial," Dr. Leo K. Niskanen from Kuopio University in Finland and colleagues write.
They therefore examined the ability of serum uric acid level to predict cardiovascular and all-cause mortality in 1423 middle-aged Finnish men initially free of CVD, cancer and diabetes.
During roughly 12 years of follow up, 157 men died, 55 from cardiovascular causes.
In age-adjusted analyses, men with uric acid levels in the upper third had a > 2.5-fold increased risk of death from CVD and a 1.7-fold higher risk of death from any cause than men with uric acid levels in the lower third.
According to the team, "extensive adjustment for variables commonly associated with gout or metabolic syndrome did not attenuate this association, extending the large body of literature regarding the role of uric acid and CVDs."
Serum uric acid levels "serve as an easily available and inexpensive risk marker," they note. "But whether its relationship to cardiovascular events is circumstantial or causal remains to be answered." The mechanism behind the association also remains to be clarified.
