Differences in urate metabolism between normouricemia and hyperuricemia in coronary heart disease in man.

: We examined hyperuricemia in patients with coronary heart disease. In 85 patients with coronary sclerosis confirmed by coronary angiography, the serum urate level (6.08 +/- 1.60 mg/dL) was not different from that in subjects with normal coronary arteries (6.47 +/- 1.69 mg/dL). The incidence of hyperuricemia in patients with coronary sclerosis was 26%, and was significantly correlated with diuretics, obesity and hypertriglyceridemia, but not with hypertension or hypercholesterolemia. To elucidate the mechanism of urate metabolism in coronary sclerosis, we separated coronary sclerosis patients without complicating factors into hyperuricemics and normouricemics, and studied urate metabolism in comparison with subjects with normal coronary arteries. We found that normouricemics with coronary sclerosis had decreases in the filtered urate load and urate clearance with a normal urate-creatinine clearance ratio. Hyperuricemics with coronary sclerosis had decreases in urate clearance and urate-creatinine clearance ratios, but the filtered urate load was similar to that in normouricemics. It is suggested that in coronary sclerosis patients, normouricemics had a low glomerular filtration of urate with normal tubular urate transport, whereas hyperuricemics had enhanced tubular reabsorption of urate without any difference of urate filtration from normouricemics.