Prevalence of asymptomatic hyperuricemia and its association with prediabetes, dyslipidemia and subclinical inflammation markers among young healthy adults in Qatar

AIM: The aim of this study is to investigate the prevalence of asymptomatic hyperuricemia in Qatar and to examine its association with changes in markers of dyslipidemia, prediabetes and subclinical inflammation. METHODS: A cross-sectional study of young adult participants aged 18 - 40 years old devoid of comorbidities collected between 2012 and 2017. Exposure was defined as uric acid level, and outcomes were defined as levels of different blood markers. De-identified data were collected from Qatar Biobank. T-tests, correlation tests and multiple linear regression were all used to investigate the effects of hyperuricemia on blood markers. Statistical analyses were conducted using STATA 16. RESULTS: The prevalence of asymptomatic hyperuricemia is 21.2% among young adults in Qatar. Differences between hyperuricemic and normouricemic groups were observed using multiple linear regression analysis and found to be statistically and clinically significant after adjusting for age, gender, BMI, smoking and exercise. Significant associations were found between uric acid level and HDL-c p = 0.019 (correlation coefficient -0.07 (95% CI [-0.14, -0.01]); c-peptide p = 0.018 (correlation coefficient 0.38 (95% CI [0.06, 0.69]) and monocyte to HDL ratio (MHR) p = 0.026 (correlation coefficient 0.47 (95% CI [0.06, 0.89]). CONCLUSIONS: Asymptomatic hyperuricemia is prevalent among young adults and associated with markers of prediabetes, dyslipidemia, and subclinical inflammation.