Serum Uric Acid Levels in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes at Kenyatta National Hospital

Abstract

Background: The prevalence of hyperuricemia has been increasing around the world accompanied by a rapid increase in obesity and diabetes. There has been a growing interest in the association between elevated uric acid and other metabolic abnormalities of hyperglycemia, abdominal obesity, dyslipidemia, and hypertension. Hyperuricemia has been positively associated with hyperglycemia. Diabetic patients tend to have higher levels of serum uric acid levels as compared to the normal population. The direction of causality between hyperuricemia and metabolic disorders, however, is uncertain and the prevalence of hyperuricemia still needs to be delineated in population samples. This study has been carried out to see the prevalence, especially, in Kenya where we have limited data on prevalence of hyperuricemia in diabetes. Objective: To determine the prevalence of hyperuricemia among ambulatory patients with Type 2 Diabetes at Kenyatta National Hospital. Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study. We employed simple random sampling to recruit eligible participants. We took height, weight and blood pressure from participants, and drew 6-8mls of peripheral blood to determine serum uric acid and HbA1c levels. We used descriptive statistics, especially means to analyze serum levels of measured variables. We employed Pearson product – moment correlation to assess the relationship between levels of serum uric acid with duration of diabetes and glycemic control. Results: A total of 150 participants were recruited, with 66% females, 34% males, and a mean (SD) age of 56.4 years. The mean (SD) duration of follow-up for diabetes was 10.3 years. Hypertension was a comorbidity in 65.3% of the participants, and obesity in 36%. The mean (SD) HbA1c levels were 7.76% and 42.7% had good glycemic control. We found a prevalence of hyperuricemia at 19.3%. The mean (SD) serum uric acid levels were 5.02mg/dl ±1.84 (299μmol/L). We found no correlation between hyperuricemia and duration of diabetes and glycemic control. Relationship between hyperuricemia and the variables of Age, BMI and hypertension did not achieve statistical significance. Female gender achieved significance with a P value of 0.046. Conclusion: There is a high prevalence of hyperuricemia at 19.3% in this study population especially in the females above the age of 40 years. Patients were on long-term follow-up for diabetes. The glycemic control was average to good. This forms a basis for regularly screening patients for serum uric acid levels in the clinics. Further studies with larger number of patients with diabetes are needed to explore the relationship of hyperuricemia to other clinical and laboratory parameters.