Prevalence and complications of hypouricemia in a general population: A large-scale cross-sectional study in Japan

Backgrounds Hypouricemia was reported as a risk factor for exercise-induced acute renal injury (EIAKI) and urinary stones. However, the prevalence of kidney diseases among hypouricemic subjects has not been evaluated. This study was conducted to clarify the prevalence of hypouricemia and the association of hypouricemia with kidney diseases by using a large-scale Japanese population data. Methods This study is a retrospective cross-sectional study at the Center for Preventive Medicine, St. Luke's International Hospital, Tokyo, Japan, and Sanin Rousai Hospital, Yonago, Japan. We analyzed the medical records of 90,143 Japanese subjects at the center in St. Luke's International Hospital, Tokyo, and 4,837 subjects in Sanin Rousai Hospital, Yonago, who underwent annual regular health check-up between January 2004 and June 2010. We defined hypouricemia as serum uric acid level of <= 2.0 mg/dL. We checked the medical history of all the study subjects and compared the rates of complications including urinary stones and kidney diseases among those with or without hypouricemia. Results The prevalence of hypouricemia was 0.19% in St. Luke's International Hospital, Tokyo, and 0.58% in Sanin Rousai Hospital, Yonago. The prevalence of hypouricemia in women was larger than that in men both in Tokyo (0.31% vs 0.068%, p<0.001) and in Yonago (1.237% vs 0.318%, p<0.001). Among 172 hypouricemic subjects (30 men), the rates of previous urinary stones and kidney diseases (including nephritis/nephrosis) were 1.2% (3.3% men, 0.7% women) and 2.3% (10% men, 0.7% women), respectively. Hypouricemic men had a 9-fold higher rate of previously having kidney diseases compared to non-hypouricemic men (p<0.001). However, the rates of other diseases including urinary stones were not significantly different between the two groups. Conclusions Hypouricemia was associated with a history of kidney disease especially in men.