Relationship Between Serum Uric acid Level and Metabolic Syndrome

Objective We evaluated the association of serum uric acid levels and metabolic syndrome in a communitybased cohort study. Methods We performed cross-sectional analysis of baseline data of 880 males and 1 043 females(aged 38 to 87)who participated in baseline examinations of the Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study: Kanghwa study. Blood samples were collected after at least an 8 hour fast. Uric acid quartiles were defined as follows:4.8,4.8-5.6, 5.6-6.5, ≥6.5 mg/dL in males; and3.8, 3.8-4.3, 4.3-5.1,≥5.1 mg/dL in females. Metabolic syndrome was defined by the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III Criteria with adjusted waist circumference cutoffs(90 cm for males; 80 cm for females). The association between serum uric acid quartiles and metabolic syndrome was assessed using multivariate logistic regression.Results The odds ratio for having metabolic syndrome in the highest versus lowest quartiles of serum uric acid levels was 2.67(95 % confidence interval [CI], 1.60 to 4.46)in males and 2.14(95 % CI, 1.50 to 3.05)in females after adjusting for age, smoking,alcohol intake, body mass index, total cholesterol, HbA1 c, albumin, γ-glutamyltransferase, blood urea nitrogen, and log C-reactive protein. The number of metabolic abnormalities also increased gradually with increasing serum uric acid levels(adjusted p for trend0.001 in both sexes).Conclusions Higher serum uric acid levels are positively associated with the presence of metabolic syndrome.