ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: It is uncertain whether high serum uric acid levels are a true independent risk factor for coronary atherosclerosis or whether the association is due to other confounding variables. We therefore studied the relationship between elevated serum uric acid levels and coronary atherosclerosis after adjustment was made for confounding factors such as age, gender, body mass index, smoking, lipid profile, blood pressure and blood glucose levels. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 240 patients referred for coronary angiography to heart centres in the Shahid-Chamran and Sina hospitals, Isfahan, Iran. Blood chemistry data as well as traditional risk factors and uric acid levels were measured at enrollment. We used vessel, stenosis and extent scores to indicate the degree of coronary artery involvement. RESULTS: This study was conducted on 240 patients with a mean age of 56 +/- 10.9 years (66% male; 37% female) who underwent coronary angiography. Student's t-test analyses revealed that there were significant differences in the mean uric acid levels between male and female patients (p = 0.001). We found no statistically significant correlation between serum uric acid levels and coronary atherosclerosis (p > 0.05). In addition, multivariate logistic regression analyses, using coronary atherosclerosis as dependent variable and traditional risk factors and uric acid levels as independent variables, did not show any significant difference. CONCLUSION: These findings indicated that uric acid is not associated with coronary atherosclerosis. Any correlation reported in other studies was probably due to the relationship between high serum uric acid levels and other cardiovascular risk factors.