Interactive effect of hyperuricemia and hyperglycemia on the hypertension incidence in elderly patients

Objective To investigate interaction effect of hyperuricemia and hyperglycemia on the hypertension incidence in elderly patients. Methods Totally 1406 elderly peoples (≥60 years) with health examination received a cross-sectional investigation. Among them, 695 subjects with hypertension were selected as the case group, and 711 normotensives at the same period were selected as the control group. The metabolism status of two groups was investigated, and the interaction effect of hyperuricemia and hyperglycemia on the elderly hypertension incidence were analyzed. Results Levels of uric acid, fasting blood glucose, triglyceride, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, body mass index, and the prevalence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease were significantly higher in the case group than in control group (t = 5.709, 3.277, 9.038, 4.341, 3.282 and 3.570, respectively, all P<0.01). After adjusting confounding factors, multivariate Logistic regression demonstrated that the odd ratio for suffering elderly hypertension was 2.680-fold higher in subjects with hyperuricemia and hyperglycemia than in subjects without hyperuricemia and hyperglycemia (OR=2.680, 95%CI: 1.440-4.987). The synergistic index of hyperuricemia and hyperglycemia was 1.44, with an attributable interaction of 0.51. The proportion of attributable interaction was 19.0% and the proportion of pure attributable interaction was 30.4%. Conclusions There is a positively interactive effect of hyperuricemia and hyperglycemia on the incidence of elderly hypertension, and simultaneous existence of the two factors is able to increase the risk of elderly hypertension. Key words: Hypertension; Hyperuricemia; Hyperglycemia; Cross-over studies