Serum uric acid in Korean children and adolescents: reference percentiles and association with metabolic syndrome

PURPOSE: To establish age/sex-specific reference intervals for serum uric acid and to examine the associations between serum uric acid level and metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its components in Korean children and adolescents. METHODS: We analyzed data for 1,349 subjects aged 10 to 19 years from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2016–2017. RESULTS: The mean uric acid levels were 5.9±1.3 mg/dL (interquartile range, 5.0–6.8 mg/dL) in males and 4.6±0.9 mg/dL (interquartile range, 3.9–5.2 mg/dL) in females. The mean uric acid level increased significantly from 10–13 years of age in males, but not in females. The overall prevalence of MetS was 5.9% (7.3% in males and 4.3% in females; P=0.022). The prevalences of MetS in the lowest, second, third, and highest quartiles of uric acid level were 4.4%, 3.3%, 6.1%, and 15.2%, respectively, in males (P for trend <0.001) and 1.9%, 0.0%, 4.1%, and 10.9%, respectively, in females (P for trend <0.001). Compared with the lowest quartile of uric acid level, the odds ratio (with 95% confidence interval) for MetS in the highest quartile was 2.897 (1.140–7.361) in males and 5.173 (1.459–18.342) in females. Subjects in the highest quartile exhibited increased risk for abdominal obesity and low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol in both sexes. CONCLUSIONS: Serum uric acid level is positively associated with MetS and its components abdominal obesity and low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol.