Association of Hyperuricemia with Metabolic Syndrome

Background: Uric acid levels are often increased in subjects with metabolic syndrome but it is unclear whether it plays a causal role or it is a marker for metabolic syndrome. Objectives: To find the association of hyperuricemia with various components of metabolic syndrome. Study type, settings: The cross sectional analytical study was carried out in Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan. Subjects and Methods: Total 600 subjects of both genders aged 30-70 years were recruited in the study. Demographic, clinical and biochemical variables were recorded by using a questionnaire. Fasting blood sample was used to estimate plasma glucose, serum lipid profile and uric acid. The cut-off for hyperuricemia was serum uric acid level ≥7.0 mg/dl for males and ≥5.7 mg/dl for females. Metabolic syndrome was diagnosed if subjects had any 3 of the 5 criteria described as per ATP III guidelines. The data was analyzed using SPSS Version 20. Results: The study included 216 (36%) males and 384 (64%) females with mean age 47±10 years. Out of total 447 subjects, 62 (13.9%) with metabolic syndrome had hyperuricemia. Whereas 62 (75.6%) subjects out of total 82 subjects with hyperuricemia had metabolic syndrome. Different parameters of metabolic syndrome were statistically correlated with hyperuricemia but none showed significant correlation. Chi square and Wald Statistic (Logistic regression algorithm) showed that by using G-to-S (general to specific) approach hyperuricemia was significantly associated with female gender but did not show any association with metabolic syndrome. Conclusion: There was no association present between metabolic syndrome and hyperuricemia; therefore uric acid levels might not be important in the diagnosis of metabolic syndrome.