Serum uric acid: an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease in Pakistani Punjabi patients

It is well-known that serum uric acid (SUA) can increase the risk of hypertension, diabetes, obesity and dyslipidemia. However, its independent association with the risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) is controversial particularly in different populations. Hence, this study was aimed to assess an independent association of SUA with CVD risk in a Punjabi Pakistani cohort.

This is a retrospective observational study in which 502 human subjects having CVD, hypertension and/or diabetes were grouped based on SUA levels as normouricemia (n = 266) and hyperuricemia (n = 236). Role of SUA was assessed in increasing the risk of CVD independent of other key confounding factors (i.e. age, gender, dyslipidemia, hypertension, diabetes, dietary and life-style habits). All clinical and biochemical data were analyzed in SPSS (ver. 20).

Subjects aged 55 ± 13 years were of both genders (males: 52%). SUA levels were significantly different among clinical subtypes of CVD [i.e. acute coronary syndrome (ACS), myocardial infarction (MI) and heart failure (HF)]. Spearman correlation showed a significantly positive association between CVD and SUA (rho = 0.149, p < 0.001). Multivariate logistic regression of SUA quartiles showed that hyperuricemia is associated with CVD [3^rd quartile: OR: 1.78 (CI: 1.28-2.48), p = 0.001 and 4^th quartile: OR: 2.37 (CI: 1.72-3.27), p < 0.001]. Moreover, this association remained significant even after adjusting for confounding factors.

This study showed that SUA is positively associated with CVD, thus it can act as an independent risk factor for CVD.