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Increased serum uric acid levels predicted higher BP levels
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For children with relatively high cardiovascular risk, increased uric acid levels are a predictor of higher blood pressure levels, according to study result.
“Serum uric acid was shown to be a strong correlate of established hypertension in children,” researchers wrote. “Preliminary studies have also reported an associated between hyperuricemia and non-sustained hypertension, and, recently, a relationship between changes in serum [uric acid] over time and blood pressure from childhood to adulthood has been reported.”
The cross-sectional cohort study included 501 children aged 6 to 18 years referred for cardiovascular risk. Office BP and clinical and biohumoral parameters were examined.
Researchers found that 31.1% of participants were normotensive, 24.4% showed transient hypertension, 17.4% had prehypertension and 27.1% had hypertension. Of all participants, 33.3% were overweight and 40.5% obese. There was a noticed trend toward greater weight and waist circumference and higher BMI, homeostasis model assessment index and uric acid levels as the BP categories rose.
Pubertal children, obesity and waist-to-height ratio prevalence increased about 0.5 from lower to upper BP categories. When adjusted for puberty, gender, BMI, homeostasis model assessment index and renal function, uric acid was directly related to systolic and diastolic BP (P=.03). When normotensive children were used as comparison, the risk of showing prehypertension or hypertension increased by 50% for each 1 mg/dL uric acid increase (P<.01) and it doubled for children in the top-gender specific uric acid quartile (P<.03).
“The association between [uric acid] and BP levels is independent of several well-known factors potentially implicated in the development of hypertension, such as insulin resistance, pubertal stage, and renal function,” researchers wrote. “These data support the need for further large, prospective, and interventional studies to clarify the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying the relationship between serum [uric acid] and BP.”
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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