Association Between Serum Uric Acid Levels and Progression of Coronary Artery Calcification in Japanese Subjects at a Health Checkup

抄録

Background: Coronary artery calcium (CAC) is associated with coronary heart disease risk. In addition, CAC progression is associated with worsening coronary atherosclerosis and predicts future cardiac events. We aimed to investigate risk factors for the progression of CAC in an asymptomatic Japanese population using low dose computed tomography (CT) for lung cancer screening performed during routine health checkup.

Methods: The risk factors for CAC progression were analyzed in 771 asymptomatic subjects who underwent repeated CAC measurement.

Results: Of the 771 subjects, 632 (82.0%) were males with a mean age of 56 years, 208 (27.0%) had a history of hypertension, 299 (38.8%) had dyslipidemia, 81 (10.5%) had diabetes mellitus, and 180 (23.3%) had hyperuricemia. During the observation period, 103 (13.4%) subjects had CAC progression, while 515 subjects (66.8%) showed no calcification. On multivariate analysis, increasing uric acid level was significantly associated with the progression of CAC (odds ratio 1.203, 95% confidence interval 1.045–1.387, p=0.010) in addition to age, sex, and triglyceride level.

Conclusions: The results of this study show that hyperuricemia is associated with CAC progression in asymptomatic Japanese subjects.