Hyperuricemia as a cardiovascular risk factor and its influencing possibilities

█ Review

DOI: 10.26430/CHUNGARICA.2022.52.4.331

Authors:
Gajdán Nikolett, Ábrahám György
Szegedi Tudományegyetem, Szent-Györgyi Albert Orvostudományi Kar, Klinikai Központ,
Belgyógyászati Klinika, Szeged

Summary

Cardiovascular diseases are among the leading causes of death worldwide and in Hungary, as well. In their development and progression, in addition to the “classic” risk factors, more and more attention is paid to the so called additional risk factors. Considering most of them, it is still an unsettled question whether they are able to influence the development of cardiovascular diseases by themselves, i.e. “real” causal factors, or whether their elevated level “only” indicates the disease that has already developed, i.e. they are rather markers.
Uric acid has become increasingly the focus of interest in this area for a reason. An increase in the serum level to an abnormal range, i.e. the prevalence of hyperuricemia increases, and this also shows a correlation with other risk factors and the development and progression of cardiovascular diseases. Based on this, many experts believe that uric acid can be considered as an independent risk factor. The authors present the most important elements of uric acid metabolism, the mechanisms that explain the “Janus-facedness” of uric acid, since its normal level accounts for about half of the antioxidant capacity of the plasma. The experimental and clinical data supporting the additive pathological role of uric acid in various cardiovascular diseases are described. In addition to the essential dietetic basis, effective pharmaceutical solutions are available to reduce hyperuricemia, mainly with xanthine oxidase inhibitors.
All of these have a positive effect in the clinic of cardiovascular diseases, supporting the pathological importance of uric acid. Summarizing the experimental and clinical data, hyperuricemia should be considered as a cardiovascular risk factor, with the timely treatment of which we can rightly hope for a preventive effect and a slowing down of the progression of already manifested disease states.

ISSUE: CARDIOLOGIA HUNGARICA | 2022 | VOLUME 52, ISSUE 4

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