Introduction: Hyperuricemia and gout are a growing health problem worldwide. Their etiology is complex, and usually caused by excessive production of uric acid and/or impaired excretion. Some drugs used in the treatment of high blood pressure furthermore increase the risk of hyperuricemia. An additional risk factor for hyperuricemia is obesity. Thus far, there is no consensus on the treatment of patients with asymptomatic hyperuricemia, despite a large number of studies conducted worldwide.
The aim: To evaluate the prevalence of hyperuricemia among patients with essential hypertension and obesity, pharmacologically treated with combination therapy.
Material and methods: A total of 109 obese patients (mean BMI=34.6±3.5 kg/m2) were included in this study, selected from the outpatients at the Clinic of Arterial Hypertension, the unit of the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński Institute of Cardiology in Warsaw. Patients were treated with at least two antihypertensive drugs. Blood pressure, uric acid and insulin levels were measured among patients.
Results: The average systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure were of 131±5,9 and 84.6±3.6 mmHg respectively, the average uric acid level of 6.4±1.5 mg/dl, and the average level of insulin 17.6±11.0 mU/L. Hyperuricemia was found in 33 patients (27.5% of subjects). The uric acid level was significantly higher among men. A positive correlation between the serum uric acid concentration of serum insulin (r = 0.27, p <0.001), age (r = 0.21, p <0.002) and BMI patients (r = 0.26, p <0.002) has been shown. There were no significant differences in the concentration of uric acid among patients receiving multiple antihypertensive agents.
Conclusion: The incidence of hyperuricemia demonstrated in this study confirms the findings of other authors and indicates a fairly common prevalence of this phenomenon among a population of patients with hypertension. Individually adjusted multidrug antihypertensive therapy does not seem to affect significantly the concentration of uric acid, but further research is needed in this respect.
Keywords: essential hypertension; hyperuricemia; obesity.