Risk Factors for the Incidence of Hyperuricaemia: a 6-year Longitudinal Study of Middle-aged Japanese Men

Background: Few longitudinal studies on the determinants of increase in serum uric acid (SUA) have been completed.

Methods: In all, 1445 hyperuricaemia-free (<7.5 mg/dl SUA, no medication for and no past history of hyperuricaemia) male office workers aged 30-54 years of T Corporation in Osaka, Japan were re-examined for six successive years. Subjects who were found to be hyperuricaemic or had started medication for hyperuricaemia during repeat surveys were defined as incident cases.

Results: Among the subjects (n = 1365) not receiving medication for hypertension, diabetes mellitus or renal disease, multivariate analysis using the Cox proportional hazards model indicated that the incidence of hyperuricaemia had significant relationships with body mass index (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] = 1.13 for a 2 kg/m2 increase; 95% CI: 1.02-1.26), mean blood pressure (HR = 1.07 for a 5 mmHg increase; 95% CI: 1.00-1.13), log triglyceride level (HR = 2.21 for a 10 mg/dl increase; 95% CI: 1.12-4.37), alcohol intake (HR = 2.33 for drinking 46.0 g of ethanol per day or more relative to non-drinking; 95% CI: 1.55-3.50) and smoking (HR = 0.65 for current-smoking relative to non-smoking; 95% CI: 0.46-0.92). Age (HR = 0.89 for a 5-year increase; 95% CI: 0.78-1.00) and haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) (HR = 0.89 for a 0.5% increase; 95% CI: 0.78-1.00) achieved marginal significance.

Conclusions: Obesity, high blood pressure, high triglyceride level, and alcohol intake are contributory factors for the development of hyperuricaemia among middle-aged Japanese men. High HbA1c level and smoking may be negative factors for the incidence of hyperuricaemia.