Uric acid(UA) might have a role in the pathogenesis of hypertension and atherosclerotic diseases, although whether it is independent of classical risk factors is controversial. The automatic measurement of brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) is a valid and reproducible method by which to assess arterial stiffness, a potential surrogate marker of early atherosclerosis. By analyzing cross-sectional cohort data from 626 individuals aged 45 or over(men 280, women 346, mean age 70.6±8.6 yr) who live at Chuncheon city in Korea, we have investigated whether serum UA is associated with blood pressure(BP) level and high baPWV in a sex-specific manner. BP classification used JNC 7 criteria. Analysis showed that serum UA increases significantly across the sex-specific quartiles of baPWV(mean±SD, mg/dL: Q1 4.74±1.14, Q2 5.08±1.53, Q3 5.50±1.19, Q4 5.37±1.62, p=0.0374) and BP level(mean±SD, mg/dL:Normotension 4.11±1.0, Prehypertension 4.72±1.18, Hypertension 5.37±1.39, p=0.0001) in men after adjusting for age, alcohol, exercise and smoking status, but not women. Multivariate analysis showed that the higher serum uric acid(defined as above median level) is related with baPWV(odds ratio, 95% CI:OR 2.02, 1.03-3.95), alcohol(OR 2.15, 1.09-4.23), BMI(OR 2.31, 1.03-5.22) and hypertension(OR 2.87, 1.14-7.20) in men, and hypertension(OR 1.98, 1.02-3.81) in women, and cholesterol(OR 2.35, 1.27-4.36 in men, OR 2.09, 1.28-3.41 in women) in both sexes. These data suggests that in men, serum UA level is associated with increased baPWV, a marker of arterial stiffness, and hypertension, and is in part independent of other conventional risk factors.
Keywords: Arterial stiffness; Pulse wave velocity; blood pressure
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