title: Hyperuricemia associated with high cardiac event rates in the elderly with chronic heart failure.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Congestive heart failure (CHF) is the major cause of death and hospitalization in the elderly population. Simple markers that can be measured anywhere at low cost are necessary to identify patients at high risk. Recent studies have reported that hyperuricemia is a prognostic marker for CHF. However, it is not yet known whether serum levels of uric acid may provide prognostic information in the elderly population. Therefore, this study tried to identify the clinical characteristics of elderly CHF patients (+/-70 years) in our institution and to evaluate whether uric acid levels can effectively estimate the prognosis for elderly CHF patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Uric acid levels were analyzed in 247 CHF patients, and patients were followed up for 451 +/- 235 days (mean +/- SD). Elderly CHF patients aged > or =70 years (123 patients) had higher rate of hypertension, lower current smoking rate and higher uric acid levels than those aged < 70 years (124 patients). There were 72 cardiac events including cardiac deaths and readmissions for worsening CHF. Multivariate analysis with the Cox proportional hazard model showed that uric acid was the only independent predictor of cardiac events (hazard ratio 1.544, 95% confidence interval 1.215-2.582, p < 0.0001) in the elderly with CHF. The highest quartile of uric acid level was associated with the highest risk of cardiac events (a 4.45-fold compared to the lowest quartile). Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that uric acid levels effectively risk stratified elderly CHF patients for cardiac events.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings suggest that measurement of uric acid levels in elderly CHF patients may add valuable prognostic information to predict cardiac events.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Pulmonology, and Nephrology, Yamagata University School of Medicine, Yamagata. takeishi@med.id.yamagata-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Niizeki
authors.forename: Yasuchika
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Takeishi
authors.forename: Takanori
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Arimoto
authors.forename: Hidenobu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Okuyama
authors.forename: Naoki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nozaki
authors.forename: Osamu
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Hirono
authors.forename: Yuichi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tsunoda
authors.forename: Tetsu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Joji
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nitobe
authors.forename: Takehiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Miyashita
authors.forename: Hiroki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Yo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Koyama
authors.forename: Isao
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kubota
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D033461:Hyperuricemia / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011379:Prognosis; D014527:Uric Acid / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D014527:Uric Acid