ESSENTIAL HYPERTENSION

Background: Little and sparse information is present in our population onassociation between serum uric acid and essential hypertension .Increased serum uric acid isrelated with elevated blood pressure in different research studies. The relationship betweenserum uric acid level and high blood pressure can be difficult to assess because drugs for highblood pressure usually affect uric acid level. Objectives: The objective of our study is to evaluatethe association of serum uric acid to severity and duration of essential hypertension at LiaquatUniversity Hospital (tertiary care) Hyderabad / Jamshoro Methodology: Study Design: Casecontrol and prospective study. Setting: Medical wards and Out Patient Medicine Department ofLiaquat University Hospital Hyderabad / Jamshoro. Period: One year i.e. from 20th March 2013to 19th February 2014. Methodology: A total of 75 high blood pressure subjects aged 35 yearsand above were included as cases with same number(75) of age & sex matched normal bloodpressure subjects as controls after excluding, Secondary hypertension, metabolic syndrome,Diabetes Mellitus, age 70 years, hypothyroidism, hyperparathyroidism, Ischemic heartdisease, congestive cardiac failure,Alcohol abuse, Renal Insufficiency, glomerulonephritis,pyelonephritis, hereditary nephropathy, patients on drugs –, ethambutol,levodopa pyrazinamide,low dose asprin, Cytotoxic drugs, nicotinic acid ,thiazide diuretics.. Qualitative and quantitativedata were evaluated in SPSS version 16.0. Results: The mean serum uric acid level was 6.3± 1.4 mg/dl vs 4.5 ± 1.2 mg/dl in case (n = 75) and control patients (n = 75) respectively. Atotal of 23 (30.6%, n = 75) patients in cases and 8 (10.6%) subjects in control had high serumuric acid (Odds Ratio 2.13, p <0.05). Therefore, the frequency of increased serum uric acidlevel subjects & mean serum uric acid level were significantly greater in hypertensive cases,as compared to those of healthy normal blood pressure Controls. Serum uric acid correlatedpositively with both systolic blood pressure (r=0.132, p<0.01) and diastolic blood pressure(r=0.214; p<0.01). Conclusion: High serum uric acid is frequent in our populace with essentialhypertension and there is relationship between serum uric acid level and blood pressure.Further large scale research studies on the pathophysiologic significance of high serum uricacid in these high blood pressure patients are in further need.