Article Text

Download PDFPDF

THU0443 Hyperuricemia is associated with increased coronary artery calcification in men but not women
Free
  1. MI Dehlin1,
  2. P Drivelegka1,
  3. V Sigurdardottir1,
  4. O Angerås2,
  5. LT Jacobsson1,
  6. H d'Elia Forsblad1,3
  1. 1Dept of rheumatology and inflammation research, Institution of medicine, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg
  2. 2Department of Cardiology, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg
  3. 3Departments of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Rheumatology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden

Abstract

Background Hyperuricemia is closely associated to cardiovascular disease although it has not been defintively established whether it is a marker or a causative agent. Serum uric acid (sUa) is strongly linked to the metabolic syndrome, hypertension (HT), dyslipidemia (DL) and higher BMI and higher levels are seen in men compared to women. Coronary artery calcification (CAC) is associated with future risk of atherosclerotic CV events in addition to these traditional cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF). CACs are present in atherosclerotic arteries and can be quantified and scored non-invasively by computed tomography. The Swedish CArdioPulmonarybioImage Study (SCAPIS) extensively characterizes a Swedish cohort of 30 000 men and women aged between 50 and 64 years. A comprehensive pilot study in 1111 individuals was completed in 2012. In this pilot study we have examined the relation between CACs and sUa

Objectives Examine the association bewteen sUa and CAC in men and women seperately.

Methods In the SCAPIS pilot study we identified 1106 (552 males) individuals who were screened for traditional CVDRFs, such as HT, DL, diabetes mellitus (DM), smoking, physical activity (PA), educational level (EDU), BMI, high sensitive CRP (hsCRP). CACs, reflecting calcification of coronary arteries, was determined according to Agatston1. We measured sUa and related quartiles to CACs with multiple logistic regression analyses adjusting for traditional CVDRFs. CAC was defined positive if ≥1.

Results Age, BMI, smoking status, hsCRP, HT and DL showed no differences between sex while presence of CAC and diabetes was twice as common in men (Table 1). The three upper quartiles of sUa, (>306 μmol/L), all significantly (p<0.05) predicted presence of CACs in men even adjusting for HT, DL, DM, smoking, PA, EDU, BMI, hsCRP and age in multivariate logistic regression, but not in women (Table 2).

Table 1.

Baseline characteristics of the study population divided by sex

Table 2.

Quartiles of sUa and age as predictors for presence of CAC (>0 CACs score) in male and female in multivariate logistic regression analyses adjusted for age, smoking, BMI, DM, DL, HT, hsCRP, EDU and PA

Conclusions Higher levels of sUa is associated with presence of CACs in men but not in women. This may merely reflect the earlier onset of atherosclerosis in men or possibly suggest biological differences in the effect of sUa on calcification of coronary arteries between sexes.

References

  1. Agatston AS et al Quantification of coronary artery calcium using ultrafast computed tomography J Am Coll Cardiol 1990.

References

Disclosure of Interest None declared

Statistics from Altmetric.com

Request Permissions

If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.