title: Uric acid in heart disease: a new C-reactive protein?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To review and interpret the recently published data on hyperuricemia and cardiovascular disease to present an opinion on the nature of link between serum uric acid concentration and the risk for cardiovascular outcomes, and to comment on its implications for clinical practice.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Evidence has accumulated in prospective observational studies that link hyperuricemia among younger adults with the risk of subsequent hypertension. Such associations have been observed with respect to insulin resistance, diabetes, and other cardiovascular risk factors. Newer data confirm the link between hyperuricemia and cardiovascular mortality. The use of allopurinol has been shown to be associated with reduced mortality risk in longer term observational studies and with reduced blood pressure in short-term randomized controlled trials. None of these findings is confounded by traditional risk factors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The available evidence has established a link between hyperuricemia and cardiovascular disease and this may be causal. Without waiting for the resolution of causality arguments, one can start using serum uric acid concentration as an inexpensive cardiovascular risk marker.
authors.affiliation: Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA. E.krishnan@stanford.edu
authors.forename: Eswar
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Krishnan
authors.forename: Jeremy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sokolove
mesh_terms: D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000097:blood* / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D033461:Hyperuricemia / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications; D012306:Risk; D014527:Uric Acid / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D014527:Uric Acid