Background: Cross-sectional studies indicate metabolic syndrome is a risk factor for elevated serum uric acid. However, longitudinal data on this association are limited.
Methods: Bogalusa Heart Study participants (n = 517) were examined as children, aged 5 to 17 years, and as adults 13 to 21 years later. Childhood metabolic syndrome components included the highest quartile (specific for year of age, race, sex, and study year) of body mass index, insulin resistance, blood pressure, and triglycerides and lowest quartile of HDL cholesterol. Metabolic syndrome was defined as the presence of 3 or more of these components and elevated serum uric acid, in adulthood, as values at or above the 90 percentile (specific for race and sex).
Results: For males, after multivariate adjustment, the odds ratios (95% confidence interval) of elevated serum uric acid associated with high blood pressure, low HDL-cholesterol, high triglycerides, insulin resistance, and high body mass index were 2.61 (1.13, 6.03), 1.47 (0.57, 3.80), 1.30 (0.55, 3.08), 2.87 (1.23, 6.71), and 3.25 (1.36, 7.74), respectively. The analogous odds ratios for females were 2.12 (0.99, 4.54), 0.38 (0.14, 1.04), 1.16 (0.54, 2.46), 1.78 (0.83, 3.79), and 3.55 (1.73, 7.31), respectively. Males and females with the metabolic syndrome in childhood were 2.60 (1.08, 6.27) and 3.01 (1.34, 6.75) times more likely to have elevated serum uric acid as adults, respectively.
Conclusions: Metabolic syndrome and high body mass index in childhood were predictors of elevated uric acid in adulthood.