Work

Association of Uric Acid With Vascular Stiffness in the Framingham Heart Study

Year: 2014

Type: article

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Uric acid is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease and arterial stiffness in patients with hypertension or stroke. It remains unknown if uric acid is associated with arterial stiffness in the general population. METHODS: We analyzed the association between serum uric acid levels and measures of arterial stiffness such as carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (CF PWV), carotid-radial pulse wave velocity (CR PWV) and augmentation index (AI) in 4,140 participants from the Generation 3 Framingham cohort using linear regression. RESULTS: Mean (SD) age was 40.0 (8.8) years and mean (SD) serum uric acid levels were 5.3 (1.5) mg/dl. Mean (SD) CF PWV was 7.0 (1.4) m/s. Individuals in the highest quartile of uric acid were more likely to be male, have a higher prevalence of hypertension, higher BMI, fasting glucose and insulin, and lower estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). Multivariate adjusted means of CF PWV were 6.90, 6.94, 7.06, and 7.15 m/s for uric acid quartile 1, 2, 3, and 4 respectively. In unadjusted analysis each 1mg/dl increase in uric acid was associated with higher CF-PWV (β = 0.27; 95% CI = 0.25, 0.29; P < 0.0001). This was attenuated but remained significant after adjusting for age, sex, smoking, hypertension, BMI, fasting glucose, insulin, animal protein intake, and eGFR (β= 0.06; 95% CI = 0.02, 0.09; P < 0.0007). There was no association between serum uric acid levels and AI upon adjustment for cardiovascular risk factors. CONCLUSIONS: Serum uric acid levels are significantly associated with CF PWV and CR PWV in a younger Caucasian population.

Source: American Journal of Hypertension

DOI: 10.1093/ajh/hpu253

Authors: Tapan Mehta, Eugene Nuccio, Kim McFann, Magdalena Madero, Mark J. Sarnak, Diana Jalal

Institutions: University of Colorado Anschutz, Instituto Nacional de Cardiología, Tufts Medical Center

Language: English

Topic: Cardiovascular Health and Disease Prevention

Subfield: Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green