To print: Select File and then Print from your browser's menu --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Title: DG DISPATCH - ASH MEETING: Doctors Should Consider Ways To Reduce Uric Acid Levels URL: http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/FFFA2.htm Doctor's Guide May 25, 1999
By Margaret Pearson Special to DG News NEW YORK, NY -- MAY 21, 1999 -- According to two separately published U.S. studies, an elevation in blood uric acid levels is associated with an increased risk for heart attack and stroke. The first study was presented by Drs. R. San Diego, H. Ward and colleagues from the University of California-Los Angeles school of medicine at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hypertension. This study consisted of 718 minority patients (519 black and 199 Hispanic) who participated in the Community Hypertension Intervention Project, Dr. Ward said. The patients risk for developing heart disease was related to mild increases in serum uric acid levels. Serum uric acid is a measure of the amount of uric acid in the blood. Uric acid is a major by-product of protein metabolism. Normal uric acid levels differ between men (4.0-8.5mg/dl) and women (2.7-3mg/dl) because of the generally large concentration of body fat in women. When uric acid levels exceed 6.8 mg/dl, tiny crystals of uric acid can be deposited in joints, cartilage, bone and surrounding tissue. The inflammation and pain resulting from such deposits is known as gout. "The serum uric acid levels seen in this study were much less than seen in patients with gout who normally present with uric acid levels of greater than 6 mg/dl, in this study the patients had levels less than 3 mg/dl," Dr. Ward said. "Patients included in our study were factored out for any severe initial kidney disease on the basis of serum creatine levels, if creatine levels were high, they were excluded from the study," Dr. Ward explained. Elevated uric acid levels can be associated with kidney failure and disease. The other study presented at the ASH meeting was "Serum uric acid, its change with diuretic use and risk of cardiovascular events in the Systolic Hypertension in the Elderly Program (SHEP)" by Dr. Franse of the University of Tennessee Medical School. This was a much larger scale study that included more than 4,300 participants. It was a five-year, randomised, placebo-controlled clinical trial of chlorthalidone, a thiazide diuretic, treatment of isolated systolic hypertension in older people. Serum uric acid was measured as part of SHEP at the beginning of the trial and again after one year of chlorthalidone therapy. What the researchers found was that people who took chorthalidone for high blood pressure were 72 percent more likely to develop CHD if their uric acid level increased 1mg/dl or more after one year of treatment. Fifty percent of patients who took chlorthalidone had an increase of 1 mg/dl or more in their serum uric acid and their risk of developing CHD was the same as people who had taken a placebo. In summarising the results of this study, it establishes that serum uric acid is an independent predictor of cardiovascular events in older persons with isolated systolic hypertension and that physicians should monitor serum uric acid during diuretic treatment to see which patients will benefit the most. Overall, people with the highest levels of serum uric acid were 32 percent more likely to have a cardiovascular event such as stroke, TIA, MI, heart failure and cardiac death than those with the lowest levels. The risk, which was unrelated to blood pressure changes was much greater among white males, for whom increased risk was 86 percent. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright © 1999 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of P\S\L content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of P\S\L. P\S\L shall not be liable for any errors, omissions or delays in this content or any other content on its sites, newsletters or other publications, nor for any decisions or actions taken in reliance on such content. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This news story was printed from *Doctor's Guide to the Internet* located at http://www.docguide.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return to News Story Page This site is maintained by webmaster@pslgroup.com Please contact us with any comments, problems or bugs. All contents Copyright (c) 1998 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc. All rights reserved.