Lack of Associations between Elevated Serum Uric Acid and Components of Metabolic Syndrome Such as Hypertension, Dyslipidemia, and T2DM in Overweight and Obese Chinese Adults

The overweight and obese population experiences a higher occurrence of both hyperuricemia and metabolic syndrome. The present study was to explore the relationship between serum uric acid and metabolic syndrome-related risk factors among 409 obese Chinese adults (254 women and 155 men) with >24 kg/m(2) BMI. Based on sex-specific reference ranges, 233 (57%) patients showed elevated serum uric acid. A total of 15 attributes were selected to assess the associations between elevated serum uric acid and components of metabolic syndrome, including serum uric acid, total cholesterol, HDL-C, LDL-C, triglyceride, systolic blood pressure, fasting blood glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin, HOMA-IR, alanine aminotransferase, creatinine, urine microalbumin, muscle mass amount, BMI, and age. Among the participants stratified into three groups of grade I, grade II, and grade III obesity, as well as among the participants stratified into male and female groups, univariate correlation analysis identified a negative association (P < 0.01) for age, positive associations (P < 0.01) for BMI, muscle mass, alanine aminotransferase, and creatinine. The stepwise multivariate logistic regression proved similar associations for age, BMI, creatinine, and alanine aminotransferase. No significant associations were testified between serum uric acid levels and cholesterol, HDL-C, LDL-C, triglyceride, fasting blood glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin, HOMA-IR, and urine microalbumin. Factor analysis illustrated that 15 attributes could be grouped into two common factors and five individual factors. A common underlying factor was identified among uric acid, muscle mass, creatinine, alanine aminotransferase, and BMI. The results indicate that serum uric acid has no apparent association with metabolic syndromes that are commonly characterized by hypertension, dyslipidemia, and T2DM.