Uric acid concentration as a risk marker for blood pressure progression and incident hypertension: A Chinese cohort study

Objective: Little is known about serum uric acid (SUA) role for hypertension in the Asian countries with low cardiovascular events. We aimed to explore the relationship in a comprehensive Chinese cohort. Methods: Participants in the Taiwanese Survey on Prevalences of Hypertension, Hyperglycemia, and Hyperlipidemia (TwSHHH) who were free of hypertension at baseline recruitment in 2002 (n= 3257) were evaluated for the longitudinal association between baseline SUA and blood pressure progression (BPP) and incident hypertension. Results: During a mean follow-up of 5.41 years, 1119 persons (34.3%) had experienced progression to a higher blood pressure stage and 496 persons (15.2%) had developed hypertension. In multivariate analyses, the adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) [95% confidence intervals (CIs)] comparing the highest and lowest SUA quartiles were 1.78 (1.11-2.02, P for trend.004) for BPP and 1.68 (1.23-2.04, P for trend.028) for incident hypertension. The positively graded relationships between SUA concentration and blood pressure outcomes were observed in both males and females. More interestingly, a statistically significant trend for increasing risk of BPP and incident hypertension across SUA quartiles was most pronounced in participants with abdominal obesity. Conclusion: We concluded that SUA level was an independent predictor of blood pressure progression and incident hypertension in a Chinese population.