Uraemia and hyperuricaemia in acute myocardial infarction

Plasma urate, urea and creatinine were measured at daily intervals for up to six days in 22 patients suffering from acute myocardial infarction. All except 3 patients showed some increase in plasma urea concentration and a tendency to increases in plasma urate was also observed. The increases in plasma urate correlated significantly with the increases in urea. This leads to the questioning of earlier reports linking hyperuricaemia with myocardial infarction when the possibility of uraemia has been ignored. Urine studies in a small number of patients showed no marked reduction in urea excretion, implying that increased production may partly account for the rise in plasma levels.