Uric acid levels low in teens with type 1 diabetes

(HealthDay)—Plasma uric acid (PUA) levels are significantly lower in adolescent patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D) than in healthy control subjects, and there does not appear to be a link between PUA levels and cardiorenal abnormalities in these patients, according to a study published online Feb. 19 in Diabetes Care.

Yuliya Lytvyn, Ph.D., from the University of Toronto, and colleagues evaluated data from 188 participants in the Adolescent Type 1 Diabetes Cardio-Renal Intervention Trial and 65 healthy controls. They studied the association between PUA and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (ACR), blood pressure, endothelial function, and arterial stiffness.

The researchers found that PUA was lower in participants with T1D than controls. In patients with T1D, higher PUA was inversely associated with eGFR even after adjustment for baseline clinical demographic characteristics. After adjustment for potential confounders, such as eGFR, PUA was not associated with ACR in T1D patients. PUA levels did not correlate with cardiovascular parameters (systolic blood pressure, flow-mediated dilation, or carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity) in either participants with T1D or healthy controls.

"In contrast with adults, in adolescents with T1D PUA may not yet be associated with cardiorenal abnormalities," the authors write.