title: Predictive value of serum uric acid on left atrial spontaneous echo contrast in non-valvular atrial fibrillation patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the relationship between serum uric acid (SUA) and left atrial spontaneous echo contrast (LA-SEC) in non-valvular atrial fibrillation (AF) patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  We retrospectively screened 1,476 consecutive hospitalized patients with AF who underwent transesophageal echocardiography prior to radiofrequency catheter ablation, left atrial appendage closure and electric cardioversion at Guangdong General Hospital. Data on the clinical baseline characteristics of all patients were collected from electronic medical records and analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After exclusion of patients with left atrial thrombus, 1,354 patients entered into present study and 57 were LA-SEC. The mean female SUA level (380.88 ± 94.35 µmol/L vs. 323.37 ± 72.19 µmol/L, P < 0.001) and male SUA level (416.97 ± 98.87 µmol/L vs. 367.88 ± 68.50 µmol/L, P = 0.008) were both significantly higher in patients with LA-SEC than in the controls. The mean left atrial dimension (41.32 ± 5.12 mm vs. 36.12 ± 5.66 mm, P < 0.001) was markedly larger in patients with LA-SEC. In multivariate regression analysis, SUA level was an independent risk factor for LA-SEC (OR: 1.008, P < 0.001). In receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, the corresponding area under the curve for SUA predicting LA-SEC in female and male were 0.670 and 0.657, respectively. SUA level is significantly higher in non-valvular AF patients with LA-SEC.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  SUA level is an independent risk factor and has a moderate predictive value for LA-SEC among non-valvular AF patients in Southern China.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular, Guangdong Cardiovascular Institute, Guangdong General Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Science, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Hong-Tao
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular, Guangdong Cardiovascular Institute, Guangdong General Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Science, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Fang-Zhou
authors.initials: FZ
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular, Guangdong Cardiovascular Institute, Guangdong General Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Science, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Yu-Mei
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Xue
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular, Guangdong Cardiovascular Institute, Guangdong General Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Science, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Xian-Zhang
authors.initials: XZ
authors.lastname: Zhan
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular, Guangdong Cardiovascular Institute, Guangdong General Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Science, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Xian-Hong
authors.initials: XH
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular, Guangdong Cardiovascular Institute, Guangdong General Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Science, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular, Guangdong Cardiovascular Institute, Guangdong General Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Science, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular, Guangdong Cardiovascular Institute, Guangdong General Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Science, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China; Research Center of Medical Science, Guangdong General Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Science, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular, Guangdong Cardiovascular Institute, Guangdong General Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Science, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Hai
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular, Guangdong Cardiovascular Institute, Guangdong General Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Science, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular, Guangdong Cardiovascular Institute, Guangdong General Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Science, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Wei-Dong
authors.initials: WD
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular, Guangdong Cardiovascular Institute, Guangdong General Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Science, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Shu-Lin
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Wu
keywords: Atrial fibrillation; Echo contrast; Left atrium; Serum uric acid; Thromboembolic events