Study of Serum Uric Acid Levels in Essential Hypertension and its correlation with the severity of Hypertension.

Background: Uric acid is thought to play a pathogenic role in hypertension mediated by several mechanisms such as inflammation, vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation in renal microcirculation, endothelial cell dysfunction etc. The study was carried to see the relationship between serum uric acid and hypertension and its correlation with components of metabolic syndrome as it is thought that hyperuricemia is more common in hypertensive patients probably because hyperuricemia may be also a component of metabolic syndrome. Methods: The present observational cross sectional study was conducted in the department of Medicine in a tertiary care hospital in Assam from June 2021 to May 2022. A total of 150 patients who were diagnosed as hypertensives following ACC/AHA guidelines, 2017. Newly detected hypertensives were enrolled for the study. Relevant clinical and laboratory data were recorded using proforma and statistical analysis were done accordingly. Results: 20% cases were found to be hyperuricemic in the study population out of which 67% of the cases who had metabolic syndrome had hyperuricaemia. Conclusion: There can be a direct relation between hypertension and hyperuricemia, hyperuricemia was found in 20% of hypertensive cases. Serum uric acid level correlates significantly with variables like BMI, Dyslipidemia, stage 2 hypertension, which are components of metabolic syndrome. Thus, hyperuricaemia can be an index of suspicion for the concomitant presence of metabolic syndrome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]