Cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between serum uric acid and metabolic syndrome: Results from Fangchenggang Area Male Health and Examination Survey in China

Abstract

Background: It is controversial whether serum uric acid (SUA) is a risk factor for the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS). The current study was designed to highlight the association of SUA and MetS and its components.

Methods: Data on 3675 healthy male subjects, aged 17-88 years, were collected for the cross-sectional study. A representative sample of 2575 individuals who did not suffer from MetS at baseline was involved in the cohort study. A cox regression model was applied to evaluate causality for the 2- and 4-year large scale longitudinal study.

Results: In the cross-sectional analysis, SUA showed a statistically significant negative correlation with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c) and a positive correlation with blood pressure (BP), triglycerides (TG), waist circumference (WC), and body mass index (BMI) (all P<0.001). In longitudinal analysis, examining the risk of developing MetS, SUA concentrations (hazard ratios comparing fourth quartile to the first quartile of 1.75; 95% CI, 1.26-2.41) were positively associated with incident MetS after adjusted for age, blood pressure, glucose, TG, HDL-c, smoking, alcohol drinking and education.

Conclusion: SUA is positively correlated with the prevalence of MetS. Increased SUA concentration may be an independent risk factor for MetS.

Keywords: Longitudinal study; Metabolic syndrome; Risk factor; Serum uric acid.