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STUDIES OF SERUM URATE LEVELS IN NEW GUINEANS LIVING IN DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENTS
Author(s) -
Jeremy Ross,
Rhodes P. A.
Publication year - 1971
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1971.tb87931.x
Subject(s) - uric acid , abstinence , biology , medicine , zoology , physiology , endocrinology , psychiatry
Serum urate levels were determined on three adult male groups in the Eastern Highlands of New Guinea. They comprised villagers from the Lufa and Gumine districts, indigenes working in the town of Goroka (average duration 12 years), and a control group of Caucasians living in Goroka. The diet of the villagers consisted almost entirely of carbohydrate, whilst the employed indigenes ate meat on a more regular basis and were exposed to alcohol. The villagers were found to be hyperuricæmic in comparison with the other groups. This is all the more remarkable considering their diet, absence of obesity and abstinence from alcohol. The possibility that the effect is due to low salt intake is considered. Elevated serum urate levels were also present in the older town indigenes, suggesting that ultimately environmental change would result in hyperuricæmia.