Hyperuricaemia: relationships to body fat distribution and other components of the insulin resistance syndrome in 38-year-old healthy men and women
Cigolini, M.; Targher, G.; Tonoli, M.; Manara, F.; Muggeo, M.; De Sandre, G.
International Journal of Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorders Journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity 19(2): 92-96
1995
ISSN/ISBN: 0307-0565 PMID: 7735346 Document Number: 450007
The aim of this work was to evaluate whether hyperuricaemia correlates with the cluster of metabolic and haemodynamic disorders closely associated with insulin resistance syndrome (IRS) in young apparently healthy individuals also, and, if so, whether hyperinsulinaemia itself or some other component of this syndrome, are independently associated with hyperuricaemia. The subjects were a random population sample of 181 (M = 94/F = 87) 38-year-old apparently healthy subjects, non-diabetic, without a history of gout. Obesity (overall and regional), serum lipid profile, uric acid, fasting glucose and insulin, 2 h insulin after glucose-load (only in men), blood pressure and main behavioural variables were measured. As expected, most parameters were statistically different between men and women. In particular, serum uric acid levels were significantly higher in the male group than in female group (348 +/- 59 micromoles l-1 vs 277 +/- 59 micromoles l-1, P < 0.0001). After adjustment for sex, in pooled individuals, serum uric acid concentration showed positive associations with BMI (r = 0.21; P < 0.001), waist/hip girth (WHR; r = 0.45; P < 0.0001), waist/thigh girth (WTR; r = 0.35; P < 0.0001) and subscapula/triceps skinfold ratios (STR; r = 0.30; P < 0.001). Furthermore, serum uric acid was also positively correlated with fasting insulin (r = 0.23; P < 0.001), serum triglycerides (r = 0.34; P < 0.0001), LDL cholesterol (r = 0.16; P = < 0.01), diastolic blood pressure (r = 0.26; P < 0.001), and negatively with HDL/total cholesterol ratio (r = 0.28; P < 0.001). When these correlations were calculated in the two separate populations, similar results were observed, but there were generally lower univariate correlations between uric acid and anthropometric parameters in male than in female population; furthermore alcohol intake was related to urate levels only in men. In multivariate regression analysis, serum triglycerides and WHR in women and triglycerides in men, were the only variables which, in turn, were demonstrated to be independently related to uric acid concentration when all other potential confounding factors were taken into account. This study shows that, in a population sample of 38-year-old predominantly non-obese healthy men and women, hyperuricaemia is associated with several metabolic and haemodynamic abnormalities commonly present in the IRS, thus confirming that increased levels of uric acid are yet another feature of insulin resistance. Moreover, this study suggests that, at least in our population sample, both abdominal fat distribution and hypertriglyceridaemia, rather than fasting hyperinsulinaemia, play a major role in the relationship between hyperuricaemia and other components of the insulin resistance syndrome.