Serum Uric Acid Levels and the Risk of Obesity: a Longitudinal Population-Based Epidemiological Study

Obesity is a common chronic disease, and elevated serum uric acid has been suggested to be associated with obesity. However, whether the elevation is casual or a consequence of obesity remains unclear. We performed the study to investigate the longitudinal association between serum uric acid levels and obesity.

A total of 4411 initially obesity-free subjects were followed up for 9 years. The subjects were divided into groups according to the serum uric acid quartile. Univariable and multivariable Cox regression models were used to analyze the risk factors for the development of obesity.

Of the 4411 subjects, 1272 (28.8%) subjects developed obesity over 9 years of follow-up. The cumulative incidence of obesity was 21.7%, 26.4%, 31.0%, and 36.4% in quartile 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively (p for trend < 0.001). Cox regression analyses indicated that serum uric acid levels were independently and positively associated with the risk of incident obesity.

Our longitudinal study demonstrated that high serum uric acid levels increase the risk of obesity.