Plasma xanthine oxidoreductase activity in patients with decompensated acute heart failure requiring intensive care

Plasma xanthine oxidoreductase (XOR) activity during the acute phase of acute heart failure (AHF) requires further elucidation.

One hundred eighteen AHF patients and 231 control patients who attended a cardiovascular outpatient clinic were prospectively analysed. Blood samples were collected within 15 min of admission from AHF patients (AHF group) and control patients who visited a daily cardiovascular outpatient clinic (control group). Plasma XOR activity was compared between the two groups, and factors independently associated with extremely elevated XOR activity were identified using a multivariate logistic regression model. Plasma XOR activity in the AHF group (median, 104.0 pmol/h/mL; range, 25.9-423.5 pmol/h/mL) was significantly higher than that in the control group (median, 45.2 pmol/h/mL; range, 19.3-98.8 pmol/h/mL). The multivariate logistic regression model showed that serum uric acid (per 1.0 mg/dL increase, odds ratio: 1.280; 95% confidence interval: 1.066-1.536; P = 0.008) and lactate levels (per 1.0 mmol/L increase, odds ratio: 1.239; 95% confidence interval: 1.040-1.475; P = 0.016) were independently associated with high plasma XOR activity (>300 pg/h/mL) during the acute phase of AHF.

Plasma XOR activity was extremely high in patients with severely decompensated AHF. This would be associated with a high lactate value and would eventually lead to hyperuricaemia in patients with AHF.