Assessing levels of uric acid and other cardiovascular markers in prehypertensive and hypertensive adults

Introduction

Although some studies have reported the association between uric acid (UA) and hypertension, evidence on prehypertension is still lacking. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the levels of UA and other cardiovascular markers among prehypertensive and hypertensive patients and assess their risk for developing arterial hypertension.

Methods

157 individuals were recruited: 67 normotensive, 23 pre-hypertensive and 67 hypertensive. Blood samples were collected to measure biochemical parameters and anthropometric measurements and blood pressure were evaluated. We calculated the product of lipid accumulation and the visceral adiposity index to assess cardiovascular risk.

Results

Our data showed an increase in UA levels in normotensives (4.9 ± 1.3 mg/dL), prehypertensives (5.2 ± 1.3 mg/dL) and hypertensives (5.9 ± 1.6 mg/dL) (p = 0.004). We found a higher frequency of hyperuricemia in the hypertensive group (34.3%) than in the normotensive group (13.4%, p < 0.05). Hypertensive volunteers had lower levels of HDL-C (p = 0.004 and p = 0.003) and higher body mass indexes (p < 0.001 and p = 0.007), glucose (p < 0.001 and p = 0.033), triglycerides (p = 0.001 and p = 0.005), visceral adiposity index (p < 0.001 and p = 0.002) and lipid accumulation product (p < 0.001 and p = 0.007) than normotensive and prehypertensive participants. We also observed that individuals with UA ≥ 6.2 mg/dL had an increased risk of hypertension of 4.77 (p = 0.003) compared to individuals with levels ≤ 4.3 mg/dL.

Conclusion

Our results showed that UA is associated with increased blood pressure and unfavorable changes in anthropometric and biochemical parameters, which represent risk factors for hypertension and cardiovascular diseases.