Correlations between deviations from expected cirrhosis mortality and serum uric acid and dietary protein intake

Mortality from cirrhosis in many countries deviates markedly from that expected for a given per capita alcohol intake. Since lipid peroxidation is thought to be one of the mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of liver disease and since uric acid is a natural antioxidant, we investigated the possibility that deviation in mortality rates from cirrhosis in different countries might be related to serum uric acid levels in the populations studied. Deviations from expected cirrhosis mortality were calculated as a percentage and correlated with the serum uric acid levels in nine countries. Since animal protein is a major source of dietary purines, the percentage deviation was also correlated with animal protein intake (g/capita/day) for 15 countries. Significant Pearson r correlations were obtained between the percentage deviation in cirrhosis mortality and serum uric acid (-.70, p less than .05) and animal protein ingestion (-.67, p less than .02). This suggests that higher levels of serum uric acid or higher intake of protein may protect against the development of cirrhosis.