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Relationship between hyperuricemia and dietary risk factors in Chinese adults: a cross-sectional study

  • Original Article - Observational Research
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Abstract

Previous studies focusing on identification of dietary risk factors for hyperuricemia reported controversial findings. Moreover, evidence for relationship between hyperuricemia and eating and cooking habits remained scanty. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the associations between hyperuricemia and dietary risk factors. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 1583 participants in a Beijing community. Face-to-face interviews were conducted using questionnaires. Anthropometric measurements and biochemical tests were also performed. The prevalence of hyperuricemia was 14.1 % (20.2 % for males and 7.4 % for females). Among the 1372 subjects included for analysis, 720 (52.5 %) were males and the mean age was 37.7 years. For males, statistically significant associations between hyperuricemia and tea intake, breakfast and midnight snack consumption were found, with an odds ratio of 0.56 (high vs. low), 2.14 (often vs. always) and 0.52 (rarely vs. always), respectively. Smoking, fatty liver disease, triglyceride, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and fasting blood glucose were significantly related to increased serum uric acid (SUA), with a coefficient of 20.06, 11.52, 7.29, 18.97 and 13.37 on SUA, respectively. For females, no statistically significant associations between hyperuricemia and dietary risk factors were observed. In summary, hyperuricemia is highly prevalent among the adult participants in this Chinese community, especially for men. High tea intake and consuming midnight snack rarely are significantly related to decreased risk of hyperuricemia, while often-eating breakfast is associated with increased risk of hyperuricemia compared with always-eating breakfast in males. Further prospective studies are needed to confirm the findings and to establish dietary recommendations for the prevention and treatment of hyperuricemia.

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Abbreviations

SUA:

Serum uric acid

BMI:

Body mass index

WC:

Waist circumferences

SBP:

Systolic blood pressure

DBP:

Diastolic blood pressure

TC:

Total cholesterol

TG:

Triglyceride

HDL-C:

High-density lipoprotein cholesterol

LDL-C:

Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol

FBG:

Fasting blood glucose

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Acknowledgments

We thanked Doctor Congmiao Wang and Director Shengmin Wang for their consistent support in the field investigation and data collection herein. We also acknowledged Dr. Evropi Theodoratou for her critical revision of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Guowei Li.

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This research was supported in part by a grant from National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30671759).

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The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Additional information

Xue Li and Peige Song have contributed equally to this work.

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Li, X., Song, P., Li, J. et al. Relationship between hyperuricemia and dietary risk factors in Chinese adults: a cross-sectional study. Rheumatol Int 35, 2079–2089 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00296-015-3315-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00296-015-3315-0

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