Higher serum uric acid is associated with increased arterial stiffness in Japanese individuals

Hyperuricemia is postulated to be a risk factor for atherosclerotic diseases, although whether it is independent of classical atherogenic risk factors is controversial. The automatic computer-assisted measurement of brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) is a valid and reproducible method by which to assess arterial stiffness, a potential surrogate marker of early atherosclerosis. By analyzing cross-sectional data from 982 individuals who underwent health screening, we have investigated whether serum uric acid is associated with high baPWV, which was determined as the highest quartile of baPWV values, in a sex-specific manner. Multivariate analysis showed that the odds ratios (95% CI) of the highest baPWV quartile across the sex-specific quartiles of serum uric acid were 1.0, 2.80 (0.93-8.40), 2.13 (0.74-6.19), and 2.76 (1.01-7.55) in women, and 1.0, 1.10 (0.55-2.20), 1.97 (1.04-3.75), and 2.24 (1.10-4.56) in men after adjusting for age, total and HDL-cholesterol, BMI, systolic blood pressure, triglycerides, fasting glucose and smoking status. The association between uric acid and high baPWV was observed in both subjects with metabolic syndrome and those without. These data suggest that in both genders, serum uric acid level is associated with increased baPWV, a marker of arterial stiffness, and is in part independent of other conventional risk factors for atherosclerosis and metabolic syndrome.