Serum Uric Acid Levels May Affect the Development of Hypertension

Serum uric acid（SUA）levels are said to be an independent predictive factor of new‒onset hypertension（HT）. However, few studies have demonstrated it. We investigated the relationship between SUA levels and new‒onset HT in subjects that underwent medical check‒ups in two cohorts. Cohort 1 consisted of 2272 men who underwent medical check‒ups in 2000 and 2009 and were normotensive in the first year, and who were divided into four groups based on changes in SUA after nine years：from normal to normal（NN）, normal to high（＞7 mg/dL）（NH）, high to high （HH）, and high to normal（HN）. To confirm repeatability, Cohort 2（consisting of 3740 men who underwent medical check‒ups in 2007 and 2017）was examined using the same approach. In Cohort 1, the frequency of new‒onset HT（SBP≧140 mmHg or DBP≧90 mmHg） after nine years was 9％（148/1641）in NN, 16％（36/228）in NH, 20％（44/220）in HH, and 11％（20/183）in HN. In comparisons with NN, the odds ratio of NH was 1.67（95％ CI：1.15‒2.45, p＜0.01）and that of HH was 2.18 （95％ CI：1.51‒3.13, p＜0.0001）；however, no significant difference was noted in NN and HN. These relationships remained following adjustments for age, systolic blood pressure（SBP）in the first year, and body mass index（BMI）. Similar results were obtained for Cohort 2. The present results demonstrated that SUA levels may affect the onset of new HT.