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High levels of uric acid in systemic lupus erythematosus is associated with pulmonary hypertension
Author(s) -
Kim KiJo,
Baek InWoon,
Park YuneJung,
Yoon ChongHyeon,
Kim WanUk,
Cho ChulSoo
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
international journal of rheumatic diseases
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.795
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1756-185X
pISSN - 1756-1841
DOI - 10.1111/1756-185x.12262
Subject(s) - medicine , pulmonary hypertension , pulmonary artery , uric acid , cardiology , natriuretic peptide , rheumatology , prospective cohort study , gastroenterology , blood pressure , brain natriuretic peptide , heart failure
Abstract Aim To estimate the point prevalence of pulmonary hypertension ( PH ) and determine the associated factors for PH in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus ( SLE ). Methods A prospective cross‐sectional study of 114 patients with SLE was conducted in a single tertiary center. Transthoracic echocardiography was performed to estimate the pulmonary arterial pressures. PH was defined as resting systolic pulmonary artery pressure ( sPAP ) ≥ 40 mmHg, in the absence of left heart disease. Results PH was identified in nine patients (7.9%) who had few cardiopulmonary symptoms. SLE patients with PH had higher SLE disease activity index score. In particular, serum uric acid (UA) was significantly higher in patients with PH than in those without PH. In multivariate analysis, UA remained significant for the presence of PH. Moreover, serum UA level correlated significantly with plasma NT‐pro‐B‐type natriuretic peptide level as well as sPAP . At the cutoff level of 6.5 mg/dL, serum UA had reasonable accuracy for predicting the presence of PH in SLE patients (sensitivity 66.7% and specificity 96.2%). Conclusion A significant number of SLE patients in rheumatology practice have undiagnosed PH with few discernible symptoms. Serum UA level may be useful as a surrogate marker for screening of PH in patients with SLE .