The effect of the interaction between obesity and drinking on hyperuricemia in Japanese male office workers

Obesity and drinking are acknowledged risk factors for hyperuricemia. However, the effect of the interaction between obesity and drinking on hyperuricemia is not well understood.

The cases comprised 3028 male office workers with hyperuricemia (serum uric acid level >or=7.0 mg/dL); the controls were 5348 men with a serum uric acid level less than 6.0 mg/dL. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess risk factors for hyperuricemia and the interaction between obesity and drinking in hyperuricemia. Participants were divided into 2 groups according to their BMI: individuals with a BMI of 25 or higher were classified as obese and those with a BMI less than 25 were classified as non-obese. In addition, participants were divided into 5 groups based upon their ethanol consumption. The 2 variables were then combined to create 10 groups.

With non-obese non-drinkers as the reference category, the odds ratio for hyperuricemia was 1.80 for non-obese drinkers of less than 25 mL/day of ethanol, 2.15 for non-obese drinkers of 25-49 mL/day, 2.60 for non-obese drinkers of 50-74 mL/day, 2.56 for non-obese drinkers of 75+ mL/day, 4.40 for obese non-drinkers, 5.74 for obese drinkers of less than 25 mL/day, 6.57 for obese drinkers of 25-49 mL/day, 5.55 for obese drinkers of 50-74 mL/day, and 7.77 for obese drinkers of 75+ mL/day. The interaction between obesity and drinking in hyperuricemia was statistically significant.

Our results suggest that although combining the effects of obesity and drinking did not result in a multiplicative increase in the risk for hyperuricemia, the combined risk was greater than the sum of the effects of obesity and drinking.