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Uric acid in hypertension and cardiovascular disease
1Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA. alderman@aecom.yu.edu
Insights
High uric acid levels are linked to increased heart problems in treated hypertension patients. Further research is needed to determine if uric acid causes these cardiac events or is merely associated.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Nephrology
- Metabolic Diseases
Background:
- Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death globally, with hypertension as a major risk factor.
- Current antihypertensive therapies offer incomplete cardioprotection, necessitating novel risk identification strategies.
- Elevated uric acid is increasingly recognized as a potential risk marker in various conditions, including hypertension.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between serum uric acid levels and cardiac morbidity and mortality in well-controlled hypertensive patients.
- To determine if uric acid is an independent predictor of cardiac events beyond blood pressure reduction.
Main Methods:
- Prospective study design.
- Inclusion of a large cohort of well-controlled hypertensive subjects.
- Analysis of the association between serum uric acid levels and cardiac events.
Main Results:
- A strong, specific, stepwise, and independent association was found between increasing serum uric acid levels and cardiac morbidity and mortality.
- This association persisted even in patients with effectively managed hypertension.
Conclusions:
- Elevated serum uric acid is a significant predictor of cardiac events in treated hypertensive individuals.
- Further investigation is required to elucidate the causal role of uric acid in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease.
Abstract:
Cardiovascular disease, and particularly coronary artery disease, remains the leading cause of mortality worldwide, despite recent substantial declines. Hypertension, long recognized as a risk factor for both stroke and myocardial infarction, is an important target for preventive intervention. However, effective hypotensive therapy produces incomplete cardioprotection, and most events that would have occurred in the natural state continue to occur among controlled hypertensive patients. Further progress in reducing the burden of cardiac disease will depend on early identification of risk in successfully treated hypertensive subjects and the development of preventive interventions that go beyond simple reduction of blood pressure. Recently, elevation of uric acid has been found to be associated with subsequent morbidity and mortality in the general population among patients with congestive heart failure, diabetes and hypertension. A prospective study in a large cohort of well controlled hypertensive subjects has revealed a strong, specific, stepwise, independent association of increasing serum uric acid and cardiac morbidity and mortality. Unanswered, however, is the question of whether uric acid is simply an associated phenomenon, or actually contributes to the occurrence of cardiac events.
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