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Updated: Jun 28, 2025
Assessment of Dependence in Activities of Daily Living Among Older Patients in an Acute Care Unit
Published on: September 30, 2020
Association of serum uric acid with functional disability in older subjects: a population-based study
Alice Laudisio1,2, Agnese Dorizzi3, Fabio Villeggia3
1Department of Medicine, Research Unit of Geriatrics, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Via Alvaro del Portillo, Roma, 21 - 00128, Italy. a.laudisio@unicampus.it.
Background:
The role of serum uric acid (SUA) in the development of adverse health outcomes in advanced age is still uncertain.
Aims:
The aim of the study was to assess the association of disability with SUA levels in older community-dwelling subjects.
Methods:
We assessed the association of disability with SUA in all 351 inhabitants of Tuscania (Italy) aged 75+. Functional ability was estimated using the instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs).
Results:
In logistic regression, increasing SUA levels were associated with disability (OR = 1.22; 95%CI = 1.01-1.48; P = .036), after adjusting. The association was independent of both gender and age (P for interaction > 0.050). SUA levels above 5.5 mg/dL best predicted disability.
Conclusions:
In older subjects, SUA levels are associated with disability; the cut off level above 5.5 mg/dL might be adopted in pharmacological trials aiming at reducing the incidence and progression of disability by reducing SUA, and for identifying subjects at increased risk of disability.
