Abstract:

Objectives: Uric acid (UA) is the end-product of purine metabolism and is a well-known risk factor for gout disease. In addition to that, elevated serum UA levels have been associated with many disorders including insulin resistance, obesity, hypertension, renal dysfunction and hypothyroidism. On the other hand, whether uric acid has any causal relationship with cardiovascular morbidity is a debated issue. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study included totally 326 patients who were inpatients at the Cardiology Ward or Coronary Intensive Care Unit of Ankara Numune Training and Research Hospital between March 2016 and February 2017. Data regarding serum UA and N-terminal pro B-type Natriuretic Peptide (NT-proBNP) levels and left ventricular ejection fraction %) LVEF) were retrieved from the hospital information system. Patients were categorized into four groups based on their UA levels (Group 1 UA: 2.7-4.9 mg/dL, Group 2 UA: 5-6 mg/dL, Group 3 UA: 6.1-7.4 mg/dL, Group 4 UA: 7.5-15.6 mg/dL). Other parameters were compared between the groups using ANOVA test. Additionally, the effects of gender, age and eGFR were also examined when evaluating the changes in left ventricular function according to UA levels. Correlation between the variables was analyzed with Pearson’s correlation test. Results: Group 4 was significantly different than the rest of the groups in terms of age, NT-proBNP and eGFR (p<0.001). In addition, group 4 showed significant difference from Group 1 and Group 3 regarding %LVEF (p=0.006 and p=0.002, respectively). However, the differences between the groups regarding %LVEF was not influenced by age or eGFR. Regardless of the groups, serum UA levels showed statistically significant but weak positive correlation with NT-proBNP (r=0.310, p<0.001), and low level of negative correlation with % LVEF, which was statistically significant (r=-0.173, p=0.002). Conclusion: Based on our findings, we concluded that serum UA level has prognostic significance in cardiac dysfunction and can be used in the follow-up of such patients.

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