PREVENTIVE MEDICINE 25, 611–616 (1996) ARTICLE NO. 0096 Relationships between Serum Uric Acid and Lipids in Healthy Subjects CARLA RUSSO,OLIVIERO OLIVIERI,DOMENICO GIRELLI,PATRIZIA GUARINI, AND ROBERTO CORROCHER Institute of Medical Pathology, Chair of Internal Medicine, University of Verona, 37134 Verona, Italy non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, 3 and hyper- Background. Raised serum uric acid (SUA) levels are tension. 4,5 In a prospective study, SUA has been shown associated with conditions at high risk for coronary to be an independent predictor of later development of heart disease. SUA levels can be partly modified by the hypertension. 6 A positive correlation between SUA and diet, but little is known about the association of SUA ischemic electrocardiographic changes has also been with several dietary factors, particularly the quality reported. 7,8 Moreover, SUA has been shown to be inde- of ingested lipids. pendently associated with CHD in both cross-sec- Methods. The associations between SUA levels and tional 9,10 and longitudinal studies. 11,12 biological and dietary factors were investigated in a Like many other CHD risk factors, SUA levels can sample of 90 healthy subjects (45 males and 45 females; be partly modified by the diet. 13 A clear association ages 55.6 { 18 years) living in Nove, a village near Vi- exists between SUA and purine-rich foods, 14 since uric cenza (Veneto Region, northern Italy). A careful selec- acid is directly derived from proteins, but little is tion of subjects to exclude those with chronic or known about several other dietary factors, particularly acute disease (influencing SUA directly or indirectly the quality of ingested lipids. through their pharmacological treatments) was ob- In the present study we used multivariate analysis tained with the collaboration of three general prac- to investigate the associations between SUA levels and titioners operating in Nove. a number of biological and dietary factors (with partic- Results. SUA was higher among men than among women and higher among postmenopausal women ular reference to fatty acid intake). Two methodological than among women of child-bearing age (P õ 0.01). aspects of the study are worthy of note. First, lipid Stepwise multiple linear regression analysis of the analysis included plasma and red blood cell (RBC) population as a whole showed that serum triglycerides membrane fatty acids, which are considered reliable and total RBC v-6 PUFA were significant and indepen- indices of fatty acid intake over the short and long term, dent predictors of a consistent proportion of serum respectively. 15-17 Second, only healthy subjects were re- uric acid variability (R Å 0.59; R 2 Å 0.332; P õ 0.001). cruited, in order to avoid all pathological conditions Taking men and postmenopausal women together, the capable of influencing SUA levels and to identify useful result was the same. advice for prevention of hyperuricemia in the normal Conclusions. Triglycerides and SUA are related even population. in the normal population and not only in ‘‘Syndrome X.’’ Dietary enrichment with v-6 PUFA might be useful MATERIALS AND METHODS for the negative modulation of SUA.  1996 Academic Press, Inc. Subjects Key Words: uric acid; v-6 PUFA; triglycerides; di- etary fatty acids; lipids. First, an age-based (20 – 85 years), sex-balanced se- lection of 500 subjects was obtained by means of tables of ‘‘random numbers’’ from the population of Nove, a INTRODUCTION village near Vicenza (Veneto Region, northern Italy). A further selection was performed by the three prac- Raised serum uric acid (SUA) levels are known to be titioners operating in the area, covering the whole of associated with conditions at high risk for coronary the Nove community, as previously described. 18 This heart disease (CHD), such as obesity, 1 hyperlipidemia, 2 collaboration offered the best guarantee of thorough assessment of the subject’s history in terms of both This work was supported by grants from the National Research clinical history and life habits. Very strict criteria were Council (91.00338.40), the Ministry of the University and Technologi- adopted to define the ‘‘healthy’’ population in order to cal Research (60%), and the Veneto Region Health Department. Ad- exclude changes in SUA concentration due to the coex- dress correspondence and reprint requests to Roberto Corrocher, In- istence of an underlying pathological process. We there- stitute of Medical Pathology, Chair of Internal Medicine, Policlinico Borgo Roma, 37134 Verona, Italy. Fax: 0039-45-580111. fore excluded subjects known to be suffering from hy- 611 0091-7435/96 $18.00 Copyright  1996 by Academic Press, Inc. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.