Associations between serum uric acid levels and the incidence of hypertension and metabolic syndrome: a 4-year follow-up study of a large screened cohort in Okinawa, Japan

The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between serum uric acid (SUA) levels and the incidences of hypertension and metabolic syndrome (MetS) in a large screened cohort of Japanese men and women. We evaluated 4812 subjects (males, 2528; females, 2284; mean age, 47.5 years) who underwent health checkups between 2006 and 2010 and were free of hypertension and MetS in 2006. After 4 years, 618 (13%), 764 (16%) and 158 (3%) subjects developed hypertension, MetS and hypertension with MetS, respectively. Increased SUA levels were significantly and positively associated with the incidences of hypertension, MetS and hypertension with MetS. Compared with the first quartile of SUA levels, the odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) for the third and fourth quartiles, respectively, were as follows: 1.5 (1.1–2.1; P=0.0128) and 1.8 (1.2–2.5; P=0.0022) for hypertension, 1.3 (0.9–1.9; P=0.1910) and 1.8 (1.2–2.7; P=0.0039) for MetS and 2.7 (1.1–6.6; P=0.0276) and 3.2 (1.3–8.0; P=0.0115) for hypertension with MetS. In conclusion, increased SUA levels were significantly and independently associated with the incidences of hypertension and MetS in subjects without hypertension or MetS at baseline. Increased SUA levels might also be correlated with the incidence of hypertension with MetS.