Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To determine if serum urate concentration is associated with development of hypertension in young adults. METHODS: Retrospective cohort analysis from 4752 participants with available serum urate and without hypertension at baseline from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study; a mixed race (African-American and White) cohort established in 1985 with 20 years of follow-up data for this analysis. Associations between baseline serum urate concentration and incident hypertension (defined as a blood pressure greater or equal to 140/90 or being on antihypertensive drugs) were investigated in sex-stratified bivariate and multivariable Cox-proportional analyses. RESULTS: Mean age (SD) at baseline was 24.8 (3.6) years for men and 24.9 (3.7) years for women. Compared with the referent category, we found a greater hazard of developing hypertension starting at 345 µmol/l (5.8 mg/dl) of serum urate for men and 214 µmol/l (3.6 mg/dl) for women. There was a 25% increase in the hazard of developing hypertension in men (HR1.25 (95% CI 1.15 to 1.36)) per each mg/dl increase in serum urate but no significant increase in women (HR 1.06 (95%CI 0.97 to 1.16)). CONCLUSIONS: We found a significant independent association between higher serum urate concentrations and the subsequent hazard of incident hypertension, even at concentrations below the conventional hyperuricaemia threshold of 404 µmol/l (6.8 mg/dl).