[Hyperuricaemia as a cardiovascular risk factor]

To analyze whether elevated uric acid levels are associated with an increased risk of developing cardiovascular events and diseases.

Retrospective observational cohort study.

The clinical laboratory and inpatient area of the Vic Hospital Consortium (Vic, Barcelona).

Uric acid measurements and discharges due to cardiovascular disease recorded in the information systems between 2019 and 2024 were included.

From the automated healthcare information systems, uric acid levels and discharges with a primary diagnosis of cardiovascular disease were extracted.

Patients were grouped according to normouricemia or hyperuricemia, having one or more hospital discharges during the period, and whether these were strictly cardiovascular or cerebrovascular. Regression models were defined to predict the impact of uricemia on discharges due to cardiovascular disease.

The analysis included 159,235 uric acid measurements from 60,481 different patients and 3,517 hospital discharges relating to 2,919 patients. For all patients, higher uric acid values were associated with older age. No differences were detected with regard to sex. Hyperuricemia was associated with a higher prevalence of hypertension (82.7 vs. 61.7%) and diabetes mellitus (36.9 vs. 28.0%), but not with dyslipidemia and smoking. In the group without admissions for cardiovascular disease, both age and sex were compared with the two categories of uricemia, and an increase in age and a higher proportion of men were observed in the hyperuricemia group. A logistic regression analysis to predict cardiovascular events showed an odds ratio of 1.080 (95% CI: 1.053-1.108) for uric acid levels, 1.053 (95% CI: 1.050-1.056) for age, and 0.488 (95% CI: 0.443-0.538) for female sex.

Hyperuricemia is associated with older age and, in patients admitted for cardiovascular disease, also with a higher prevalence of hypertension and diabetes mellitus.