Usefullness of uric acid to predict changes in C-reactive protein and interleukin-6 in 3-year period in Italians aged 21 to 91 years

Aim: The role of uric acid (UA) in the process of atherotrombosis is controversial. Although serum UA has powerful antioxidant properties, epidemiological studies show that UA is a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and is positively associated with proinflammatory markers. Methods: We investigated the relationship between baseline UA and changes in UA circulating levels with C-Reactive Protein (CRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) after 3 years of follow-up in a cohort of 892 Italian men and women aged 21-91 years. Participants had complete baseline and follow-up data on UA, inflammatory markers and covariates. An autoregressive approach was used to study such a relationship. Results: In adjusted analyses, baseline UA and changes in UA levels predicted a 3 years change in CRP (p = 0.028), but not IL-6 (p = 0.101). The relationship between UA and CRP persisted after adjustment for baseline ILL-6. Participants with high UA at baseline had progressively higher probability of developing clinically relevant elevated levels of IL-6 (> 2.5 pg/mL) and CRP (> 3.0 mg/L) over 3 years. Conclusions: Our study suggests that in a population-based cohort, baseline UA and changes in circulating UA levels over 3 years of follow-up predict changes in circulating CRP levels independent of r9levant confounders, including baseline IL-6 levels.