[Is there an association of uric acid level with preclinical target organ damage in moderate- and high-risk hypertensive patients?].

ABSTRACT

AIM: To assess an association of uric acid level with preclinical target organ damage in patients with hypertensive disease (HD). SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The trial enrolled 100 patients (63 men and 37 women) with Stage I-II HD at moderate and high risk for cardiovascular events (CVEs). The mean age of the patients was 44.9 +/- 1.3 years. Their medical history showed that the duration of hypertension averaged 4.4 +/- 0.3 years. The average daily level of systolic blood pressure (BP) was 138.1 +/- 1.4 mm Hg and that of diastolic BP was 84.3 +/- 1.1 mm Hg. RESULTS: The entire patient group showed a positive correlation between C-reactive protein (CRP) and serum uric acid (SUA) (r = 0.27; p < 0.01), suggesting that the nonspecific inflammatory processes were associated with uric acid levels in patients with HD. An intragroup analysis also revealed a relationship between CRP and SUA levels in the hypertensive patients at high risk for CVEs (r = 0.43; p = 0.01); this relationship was not found in those at their low risk. The hypertensive patients were ascertained to have elevated CRP levels and microalbuminuria, hyperuricosuria, and glomerular hyperfiltration when they had a SUA level >319 micromol/l. CONCLUSION: It can be assumed that the SUA level >319 micromol/l triggers the activation of nonspecific inflammatory processes, which in turn affects renal microvessels.