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Serum uric acid and new-onset hypertension: a possible therapeutic avenue?

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 28, pages 519–520 (2014)Cite this article

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Which came first, the chicken or the egg? This is a difficult question to answer because defining when the precursor to the chicken became a chicken is impossible, so we can never be sure in which geological strata we should look for fossils. To an extent the same applies to hypertension. At what point does blood pressure become too high and in need of reduction? All definitions we have are artificial numerical thresholds based on a value judgement because they have to cater to entire populations and not individuals. What is too high for one person may be just fine for another. This is important because if we could identify those people whose blood pressure would increase excessively, it may be possible to treat them early and avoid the need to treat others who may not develop any problems. Thus, attempts to identify causal links between other parameters and development of hypertension are important because it may mean that we can target individuals who will develop problems earlier in life while avoiding treatment in people who will never develop any problems.

Uric acid has long been considered a potential culprit. Many studies have found significant correlations between urate and blood pressure. The Normative Aging Study showed that baseline urate concentration is a durable marker for the risk of development of hypertension.1 Framingham data also show that urate is a prognostic indicator for the development of hypertension.2 Takase et al.3 have shown that in a Japanese population baseline urate is significantly correlated with onset of hypertension in both males and females, and that baseline urate is significantly correlated with future blood pressure.

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  1. Clinical Chemistry Department, Queen’s Hospital, Burton-on-Trent, UK

    T M Reynolds

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Correspondence to T M Reynolds.

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Competing interests

I have received sponsorship to attend scientific meetings and payment for presentations from a number of pharmaceutical companies selling lipid-lowering agents, including Merck Sharpe & Dohme, and Astra-Zeneca. I have also received a research grant from SynaGeva Ltd.

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Reynolds, T. Serum uric acid and new-onset hypertension: a possible therapeutic avenue?. J Hum Hypertens 28, 519–520 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/jhh.2013.147

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