Impact of hyperuricemia on the prevalence of hypertension at different levels of visceral fat area in a middle-aged Chinese population

期刊連結：http://www.gouthyperuricemia.com

Objective: The purpose of our study is to evaluate the impact of hyperuricemia on the prevalence of hypertension at different levels of visceral fat areas (VFA) in a middle-aged Chinese population.
Methods: A total of 826 participants aged 40-65 years old were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. Serum uric acid (UA) was measured with an auto-analyzer. Abdominal visceral fat area (VFA) and abdominal subcutaneous fat area (SFA) were determined using MRI. Bivariate correlations between serum UA levels and metabolic parameters were analyzed by Pearson correlation analysis. The prevalence of hypertension between the hyperuricemia group and non-hyperuricemia group at different levels of VFA was compared by Pearson Chi-squared analysis.
Results: The hypertension group presented with significantly higher values for serum UA and most of the obesity-related parameters than the non-hypertension group, while the HDL-C levels were lower in the hypertension group (P≤0.05). Serum UA levels were significantly correlated with blood pressure and other traditional metabolic risk factors, and highly correlated with VFA (r=0.32, P<0.001). In the high-VFA group, the prevalence of hypertension was significantly higher among subjects with hyperuricemia than those without hyperuricemia (64.3% vs. 48.8%, P=0.040). This difference wasn’t observed in the low-VFA group (23.8% vs. 18.9%, P>0.05).
Conclusion: Serum UA levels is significantly correlated with obesity and hypertension. Subjects with higher VFA that met the criteria of hyperuricemia presented a higher prevalence of hypertension, thus emphasizing the importance of monitoring serum UA in this population as a part of preventing the development of hypertension.