Serum uric acid and risk of incident hypercholesterolaemia and hypertriglyceridaemia in middle-aged and older Chinese: a 4-year prospective cohort study

Figures & data

Figure 1. Flow chart of this prospective cohort study. SUA: serum uric acid.

Table 1. Baseline characteristics of participants across sex-specific quartiles of serum uric acid levels.

Characteristics	Participants (n = 6,063)	Quartile 1 (n = 1,518)	Quartile 2 (n = 1,515)	Quartile 3 (n = 1,516)	Quartile 4 (n = 1,514)	p-Value for trend
SUA levels (μmol/L)	249.08 ± 72.01	182.45 ± 31.69	236.78 ± 28.62	281.43 ± 34.21	342.82 ± 60.16
Age (years)	59.02 ± 9.68	57.72 ± 9.18	58.61 ± 9.61	58.98 ± 9.56	60.75 ± 10.11	<.001
BMI (kg/m^2)	22.79 ± 3.42	22.48 ± 3.30	22.54 ± 3.30	22.96 ± 3.10	23.18 ± 3.84	<.001
eGFR (mL/min per 1.73 m^2)	85.78 ± 10.68	87.69 ± 8.50	87.49 ± 8.89	86.50 ± 9.99	81.43 ± 13.41	<.001
Male (%)	50.17	50.07	50.30	50.20	50.13	<.169
Han nationality (%)	89.91	89.99	90.36	90.70	88.57	<.143
Education levels (%)						<.001
No formal education or illiterate	28.47	29.64	28.71	27.64	27.87
Primary school	18.72	17.92	17.76	19.85	19.35
Finished primary school	23.11	21.74	24.29	22.36	24.04
Junior high school or above	29.70	30.70	29.24	30.15	28.73
Rural resident (%)	87.48	92.09	88.51	85.22	84.08	<.001
Married (%)	88.27	88.87	88.71	88.98	86.53	<.443
Smoking status (%)						<.066
Never smoker	58.35	57.97	57.62	58.97	58.85
Former smoker	8.13	7.05	7.92	8.11	9.45
Current smoker	33.51	34.98	34.46	32.92	31.70
Drinking status (%)						<.001
Regular drinkers	26.04	23.65	26.01	26.39	28.14
Occasional drinkers	7.22	8.56	7.06	7.39	5.88
Former drinkers	9.67	7.91	9.64	9.63	11.49
Never drinking	59.88	57.29	56.60	54.49	57.07
Hypertension (%)	23.50	18.25	19.87	24.27	31.64	<.001
Diabetes (%)	10.09	10.67	8.98	9.17	11.56	<.831

SUA: serum uric acid; BMI: body mass index; eGFR: estimated glomerular filtration rate.

Unless indicated otherwise, data are given as the mean ± standard deviation. The trend of baseline characteristics was tested with linear regression for continuous variables or logistic regression for category variables using the median SUA value for each quartile after adjusting for age (continuous) and gender, except for itself. The quartiles of SUA levels were calculated by gender respectively. In males, the cut-off values of SUA levels were <237, 237–280, 281–330 and ≥331 μmol/L; in females, the cut-off values of SUA levels were <190, 190–221, 222–260 and ≥261 μmol/L.

Figure 2. Dose-response association of serum uric acid levels with hypercholesterolaemia and hypertriglyceridaemia. RRs: risk ratios. The association was adjusted for age (continuous), gender, nationality, education levels, marital status, place of residence, body mass index (continuous), the estimated glomerular filtration rate (continuous), smoking status, drinking status, hypertension and diabetes. The solid line and dashed line represent the estimated RRs and their 95% confidence intervals. (A) and (B) are corresponding to hypercholesterolaemia and hypertriglyceridaemia, respectively.

Figure 3. Dose-response association of serum uric acid levels (continuous) with total cholesterol (continuous) and triglyceride (continuous). The association was adjusted for age (continuous), gender, nationality, education levels, marital status, place of residence, body mass index (continuous), the estimated glomerular filtration rate (continuous), smoking status, drinking status, hypertension and diabetes. The solid line and dashed line represent the estimated regression coefficients and their 95% confidence intervals. (A) and (B) are corresponding to total cholesterol (continuous) and triglyceride (continuous), respectively.

Table 2. Risk ratios (95% confidence intervals) of hypercholesterolaemia and hypertriglyceridaemia according to quartiles of SUA.

	Quartile 1	Quartile 2	Quartile 3	Quartile 4	p-Value for trend^a	SUA per 100 μmol/L
SUA levels (μmol/L)^b	183.88 ± 31.70	238.00 ± 28.62	291.31 ± 34.21	346.3 ± 60.16
The total population
Hypercholesterolaemia	1.00 (ref.)	1.21 (0.99–1.47)	1.07 (0.88–1.32)	1.18 (0.96–1.45)	.225	1.03 (0.92–1.15)
Hypertriglyceridaemia	1.00 (ref.)	1.15 (0.95–1.39)	1.23 (1.02–1.49)*	1.31 (1.08–1.59)**	.004	1.13 (1.02–1.25)*
Male
Hypercholesterolaemia	1.00 (ref.)	1.34 (0.98–1.84)	0.89 (0.63–1.27)	1.16 (0.83–1.63)	.83	0.96 (0.81–1.13)
Hypertriglyceridaemia	1.00 (ref.)	1.09 (0.81–1.47)	1.09 (0.81–1.47)	1.21 (0.89–1.63)	.234	1.09 (0.95–1.26)
Female
Hypercholesterolaemia	1.00 (ref.)	1.13 (0.88–1.46)	1.19 (0.92–1.52)	1.18 (0.91–1.53)	.199	1.07 (0.93–1.24)
Hypertriglyceridaemia	1.00 (ref.)	1.19 (0.92–1.53)	1.33 (1.04–1.71)*	1.40 (1.09–1.79)**	.005	1.17 (1.02–1.34)*

SUA: serum uric acid.

^aTest for linear trend was performed using the median SUA levels for each quartile as a continuous variable in generalized linear models (log-binomial regression, family: binomial, link: log). ^bSUA was described by means ± standard deviation.

The quartiles of SUA levels were calculated by gender respectively. In males, the cut-off values of SUA levels were <237, 237–280, 281–330 and ≥331 μmol/L; in females, the cut-off values of SUA levels were <190, 190–221, 222–260 and ≥261 μmol/L. Covariates included age (continuous), gender, nationality, education levels, marital status and place of residence, body mass index (continuous), estimated glomerular filtration rate (continuous), smoking status, drinking status, hypertension and diabetes.

*p < .05; **p < .01.