Prednisone in Uric Acid lowering in Symptomatic Heart Failure Patients With Hyperuricemia (PUSH-PATH) study

Chronic drug interactions that exist between symptomatic congestive heart failure (CHF) therapy and pharmacologic agents used for hyperuricemia and gout are a challenging problem in clinical practice. Recent observational studies showed that prednisone can induce a potent diuresis and lower serum uric acid concentration (SUA) in CHF. We therefore designed a randomized study to compare the effect of prednisone with allopurinol on SUA in symptomatic CHF patients with hyperuricemia.

Thirty-four symptomatic CHF participants with hyperuricemia (≥ 565 μmol/L) were randomized to receive prednisone (1 mg/kg/d, orally) or allopurinol (100 mg, thrice daily, orally) for 4 weeks. The primary outcome measure was change from baseline in SUA. The secondary outcome measures were change from baseline in serum creatinine levels, estimated glomerular filtration rate, daily urine output, body weight, N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide levels, physician-assessed global clinical status, and New York Heart Association functional class.

Both prednisone and allopurinol greatly lowered SUA rapidly. The overall SUA-lowering effect did not differ between treatment groups during the study period (P = 0.48, 2-way repeated measures analysis of variance). However, prednisone increased estimated glomerular filtration rate and daily urine output, and lowered body weights and N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide. Consequently, participants treated with prednisone had an improvement in clinical status.

The study showed that the SUA-lowering effect of prednisone and allopurinol is similar in symptomatic CHF patients. Prednisone might be useful for short-term SUA-lowering in CHF patients with hyperuricemia.