Treviso, Italy: Increased levels of serum uric acid (SUA) increases risk of recurrent venous thromboembolism (VTE) after treatment for an initial VTE, finds a recent study published in the Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis.
Uric acid is the final product of purine metabolism, Several previous studies have reported a link between SUA and the risk of cardiovascular disease. However not much is known about the impact of SUA levels on the VTE recurrence risk. So Lara De Lucchi, Ca' Foncello University Hospital, Treviso, Italy, and colleagues investigated the association between SUA and the risk of VTE recurrence.
For the purpose, the researchers performed a monocenter, prospective study on 280 patients with a previous episode of VTE that completed the oral anticoagulant period. SUA levels at enrollment were correlated with the risk of VTE recurrence. The patients were followed up for a duration of 71.1 ± 29.2 months.
Key findings of the study include:
Patients were stratified according to SUA tertiles distribution at baseline (tertiles cut‐off: I ≤ 4.37 mg/dl, II 4.38 – 5.54 mg/dl, III ≥ 5.55 mg/dl).
Fifty episodes of VTE recurrence occurred during the follow‐up and Kaplan‐Meyer survival analysis showed that subjects in the lower tertile of SUA distribution had significant lower risk of future VTE recurrence.
No difference were seen among patients belonging to the second and the third tertile of SUA distribution.
A multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that higher tertiles of SUA distribution had about 3‐fold increase in the risk of VTE recurrence as compared to subjects with SUA ≤ 4.37, independently from potential confounders (HR 3.04).
The adjusted hazard of VTE recurrence increases by 30% for each additional unit of SUA (mg/dl) (HR 1.30).
"Elevated SUA levels are associated with increased risk of future VTE recurrence independently from traditional risk factors," concluded the authors.
The study, "Serum uric acid levels and the risk of recurrent venous thromboembolism," is published in the Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis.
DOI: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jth.15139