Study of therapeutic efficacy of febuxostat in chronic kidney disease stage IIIA to stage VD

Hyperuricemia [serum uric acid (SUA) >7.0 mg/dL] which is common in chronic renal diseases is associated with augmented vascular events. In addition to nonpharmacological therapy, hypouricosuric drugs reduce UA levels. The current study was a prospective observational study of six months duration November 2016 to April 2017 done to determine the efficacy of febuxostat in patients with hyperuricemia in chronic kidney disease (CKD) stage G3a to G5 and to correlate any association with reduction of hypertension, improvement in glomerular filtration rate (GFR), and reduction in comorbidities. The study was carried out at the Department of Nephrology, Owaisi Hospital and Research Center, Hyderabad. One hundred and ten patients were screened, of which 53 patients wherein stage G3a to G5 were recruited and SUA levels were obtained after inclusion criteria. SUA >6.0 in females and 7.0 in males were recruited. The drug febuxostat 40 mg was given once day to all patients with stage G3a to G5D with elevate uric acid levels >7.0 in males and more than 6.0 in females and three samples of UA were obtained monthly. The mean of GFR, blood pressure (BP), and SUA levels were obtained before and after the therapy. Of the 53 patients, males were 32 (60.3%), and females were 21 (39.6%). Mean age of the patients were 36.5 years. Mean UA levels before the start of febuxostat therapy were 8.6, and after adding febuxostat, it was 5.10 at the end of the third visit. The mean BP drop was 7.2 ± 2.1 mm in systolic BP (from 154-147 mm Hg) and diastolic BP drop was 93 ± 2.5 mm Hg (5.1 mm Hg). The mean GFR improved from 50.3 to 53.3 mL/min after the start of febuxostat. Febuxostat in asymptomatic CKD patients improves UA levels, BP and estimated GFR at low dose without any adverse events and no cardiac-related events.