Both high and low uric acid levels tied to higher mortality

(HealthDay)—Both high and low uric acid levels are associated with an increased risk of dying, according to a study published in the July issue of Arthritis & Rheumatology.

Sung Kweon Cho, M.D., Ph.D., from Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, South Korea, and colleagues evaluated the association between uric acid levels and the risk of all-cause and cause-specific mortality among 375,163 Korean adults over a range of uric acid levels using national health records (2002 to 2012).

The researchers found that over the study period (2,060,721.9 person-years), 2,020 participants died, with 287 cardiovascular disease (CVD)-related deaths and 963 cancer deaths. Both low and high uric acid levels were associated with increased all-cause, CVD, and cancer mortality. For all-cause mortality in the lowest uric acid categories (<3.5 mg/dL for men and <2.5 mg/dL for women) versus the sex-specific reference category, multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios were 1.58 and 1.80, respectively. For the highest uric acid categories (≥9.5 mg/dL for men and ≥8.5 mg/dL for women), the corresponding hazard ratios were 2.39 and 3.77.

"In this large cohort study of men and women, both low and high uric acid levels were predictive of increased mortality, supporting a U-shaped association between serum uric acid levels and adverse health outcomes," the authors write.

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