Uric acid and left ventricular hypertrophy in Japanese men.
BACKGROUND
Experimental studies have reported that allopurinol protects hypertensive rats from left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) with negligible effects on blood pressure (BP). Uric acid (UA) was thought to induce cardiomyocyte growth and interstitial fibrosis of the heart, partly via activation of the renin-angiotensin system. In the present study, the relationship between serum UA levels and electrocardiographically-diagnosed LVH (ECG-LVH) was examined in Japanese men not taking medication for hypertension (HTN), which could confound the association.


RESULTS
A total of 3,305 male workers aged 35-66 years (mean age+/-SD, 48.0+/-7.1) were studied. LVH was defined as meeting the ECG criteria (ie, Sokolow-Lyon voltage and/or Cornell voltage QRS duration product). Subjects were divided into 3 groups by tertile of serum UA level. The highest tertile (UA range 0.39-0.65 mmol/L or 6.6-11.0 mg/dl) had a significantly increased prevalence of LVH compared with the lowest tertile independent of age, body mass index, serum creatinine level, HTN, diabetes and hyperlipidemia (odds ratio 1.58, 95% confidence interval 1.23-2.02, P<0.001). Similar results were obtained in both the normal and high BP subgroups.


CONCLUSIONS
UA concentration independently and positively associated with ECG-LVH in Japanese men.
Mitsuhashi
Hirotsugu
H
Department of Public Health/Health Information Dynamics, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan.
Yatsuya
Hiroshi
H
Matsushita
Kunihiro
K
Zhang
Huiming
H
Otsuka
Rei
R
Muramatsu
Takashi
T
Takefuji
Seiko
S
Hotta
Yo
Y
Kondo
Takahisa
T
Murohara
Toyoaki
T
Toyoshima
Hideaki
H
Tamakoshi
Koji
K
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D044466:Asian People; D015992:Body Mass Index; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003404:Creatinine / Q000097:blood; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000097:blood / Q000503:physiopathology; D004562:Electrocardiography; D006801:Humans; D006949:Hyperlipidemias / Q000097:blood / Q000503:physiopathology; D017379:Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular / Q000097:blood* / Q000503:physiopathology; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D051381:Rats; D014527:Uric Acid / Q000097:blood*
D014527:Uric Acid; D003404:Creatinine