Publication:

Correlation of serum uric acid with severity of airflow limitation in the patients of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Background Serum uric acid (sUA) levels were previously found to be correlated with hypoxic states. We aimed to determine the levels of sUA in COPD patients and to evaluate whether sUA level can be used as predictors of exacerbation risk and disease severity.

Methods This cross-sectional study included COPD patients and healthy controls. The sUA levels in each group were evaluated and their correlations with the study parameters were investigated. ROC analyses for exacerbation risk were reported.

Results The study included 106 COPD patients and 110 healthy controls. The mean sUA levels were significantly higher in patients with COPD compared to healthy controls (p<0.05). Mean sUA levels were compared with different stages of COPD according to GOLD criteria. Stage 4 COPD subjects had highest sUA levels compared to other stages. Statistically significant trend was observed for GOLD staging of disease (p<0.05). Surprisingly non-smokers were having higher uric acid level than smokers (p<0.05). The ROC analyses indicated that sUA levels can be useful in predicting exacerbation risk (AUC, 0.412) especially at higher cut-off values, but with low specificity.

Conclusions Study suggested that sUA levels increased in patients with COPD compared to healthy controls. At higher cut-off values sUA levels might be useful in predicting COPD exacerbation risk and disease severity. However, more prospective cohort studies with large number of participants are needed to further analyse the possible different prognostic roles of hyperuricemia.