Hyperuricemia is associated with sympathovagal imbalance in older adults

This study aimed to compare heart rate variability (HRV) parameters obtained through symbolic analysis (SA), between older adults with and without hyperuricemia.

This is a cross-sectional study including 202 community-dwelling old adults, which was clinically stratified as with or without hyperuricemia, according to the cutoff point of serum uric acid ≥ 6 mg/dL for women and ≥ 7 mg/dL for men. Successive RR intervals were recorded along 5 min and analyzed with SA method. 0 V%, 1 V% and 2 V% patterns were quantified and compared between groups. Comparisons were carried out through parametric or nonparametric tests, according to the data distribution characteristics, evaluated by Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. The significance level was set as p ≤ 0.05 for all statistical procedures.

The prevalence of hyperuricemia was 67.8 %, and the hyperuricemic older adults exhibited significant higher values for V0% and lower values for V2% parameters when compared to normouricemic older adults.

These results suggesting a sympathovagal imbalance in hyperuricemic older adults, characterized by greater sympathetic predominance (0 V%) and lower vagal modulation (2 V%) at rest conditions.