According to a follow-up study reported by Dr. Eswar Krishnan, Ph.D., a Stanford University rheumatologist, and his collaborators at the annual meeting of the European Rheumatology Congress, young patients with hyperuricemia have a significantly higher risk of developing hypertension. The association between hyperuricemia and the subsequent development of hypertension is independent of the metabolic syndrome.

The study used data from 5,115 subjects recruited by the CARDIA Institute for the Development of Coronary Heart Disease in Young People. The CARDIA study included 18 to 33-year-old subjects in four centers in the United States in 1986. Follow up for up to 20 years. Excluding baseline subjects with hypertension or any components of the metabolic syndrome (abdominal obesity, elevated triglycerides, decreased high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, fasting blood glucose), the remaining 4,918 subjects Used for this analysis. The investigators grouped the study subjects according to the quartiles of serum uric acid levels. The lowest quartile for uric acid in male subjects ranged from 0.4 to 5.3 mg/dL, and the highest quartile range was 36.8 mg/. The dl, female lowest quartile ranged from 0.6 to 3.7 mg/dl, and the highest quartile range was 35.0 mg/dl.