Association of Uric Acid with Metabolic Syndrome in Men, Premenopausal Women and Postmenopausal Women

OBJECTIVE To explore the relationship between serum uric acid (SUA) and metabolic syndrome (MS) in men, premenopausal women and postmenopausal women. METHODS A cross-sectional study was conducted in 1,834 community-based Southern Chinese participants from June to October 2012. Sex-specific SUA quartiles were used as follows: <345, 345-<400, 400-<468, ≥ 468 µmol/L in males; and <248, 248-<288, 288-<328, ≥ 328 µmol/L in females. MS was defined by the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP ATP III) Criteria. The association between SUA and MS was then analyzed using the STATA software. RESULTS The odds ratio (OR) for having MS in the highest versus lowest quartiles of SUA levels was 2.46 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.39 to 4.34, p = 0.002) in men after adjusting for age, sex, history of coronary heart disease, history of stroke, current current smoking, current alcohol use, physical inactivity, education status, and BMI. Further adjusting for above confounders, hypertension and diabetes, the OR for having MS in the highest versus lowest quartiles of SUA was 3.06 (95% CI, 1.64 to 5.70, p < 0.001). The OR for having MS in the highest versus lowest quartiles of SUA was 3.45 (95% CI, 1.38 to 8.64, p = 0.008) and 1.98 (95% CI, 1.16 to 3.37, p = 0.08) in premenopausal women and postmenopausal women after adjusting for age, sex, history of coronary heart disease, history of stroke, current smoking, current alcohol use, physical inactivity, education status, and BMI. Further adjusting for above confounders, hypertension and diabetes, the OR for having MS in the highest versus lowest quartiles of SUA was 3.42 (95% CI, 1.15 to 10.18, p = 0.03) and 1.87 (95% CI, 1.05 to 3.33, p = 0.03) in premenopausal women and postmenopausal women. CONCLUSIONS Higher SUA levels are positively associated with the presence of MS in males and females. Higher SUA levels had a higher risk of having MS in premenopausal women than in postmenopausal women.