Risk factors for the incidence of hyperuricaemia: a 6-year longitudinal study of middle-aged Japanese men

Background Few longitudinal studies on the determinants of increase in seru m uric acid (SUA) have been completed. Methods In all, 1445 hyperuricaemia-free (<7.5 mg/dl SUA, no medication for and no past history of hyperuricaemia) male office workers aged 30-54 year s of T Corporation in Osaka, Japan were re-examined for six successive year s. Subjects who were found to be hyperuricaemic or had started medication f or hyperuricaemia during repeat surveys were defined as incident cases. Results Among the subjects (n = 1365) not receiving medication for hyperten sion, diabetes mellitus or renal disease, multivariate analysis using the C ox proportional hazards model indicated that the incidence of hyperuricaemi a had significant relationships with body mass index (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] = 1.13 for a 2 kg/m(2) increase; 95% CI: 1.02-1.26), mean blood press ure (HR = 1.07 for a 5 mmHg increase; 95% CI: 1.00-1.13), log triglyceride level (HR = 2.21 for a 10 mg/dl increase; 95% CI: 1.12-4.37), alcohol intak e (HR = 2.33 for drinking 46.0 g of ethanol per day or more relative to non -drinking; 95% CI: 1.55-3.50) and smoking (HR = 0.65 for current-smoking re lative to non-smoking; 95% CI: 0.46-0.92). Age (HR = 0.89 for a 5-year incr ease; 95% CI: 0.78-1.00) and haemoglobin A(1c) (HbA(1c),) (HR = 0.89 for a 0.5% increase; 95% CI: 0.78-1.00) achieved marginal significance. Conclusions Obesity, high blood pressure, high triglyceride level, and alco hol intake are contributory factors for the development of hyperuricaemia a mong middle-aged Japanese men. High HbA(1c), level and smoking may be negat ive factors for the incidence of hyperuricaemia.