# The association between serum uric acid levels and the cardiometabolic phenotype among healthcare workers of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences

## TL;DR

The study explores how serum uric acid levels relate to cardiometabolic health in healthcare workers, finding that higher levels are linked to unhealthy metabolic profiles.

## Contribution

The study introduces serum uric acid as a potential early marker for identifying at-risk individuals with specific cardiometabolic phenotypes.

## Key findings

- Higher serum uric acid levels are strongly associated with metabolically-unhealthy obese individuals.
- The odds of being metabolically-unhealthy obese increase significantly in the highest uric acid category.
- Serum uric acid levels do not show a significant trend with metabolically-unhealthy lean individuals.

## Abstract

It is unclear whether hyperuricemia can be considered as an independent risk factor or just as a marker to represent the correlation between uric acid levels and other risk factors of MetS. In this work, we intend to study the correlation between serum uric acid (SUA) and the cardiometabolic phenotype among Tabriz University of Medical Science healthcare workers.

In this cross-sectional study, anthropometric measurements, serum fasting blood sugar (FBS), triglyceride (TG), cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL), liver enzymes, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), SUA, creatinine (Cr), and blood pressures of 1,451 healthcare workers were evaluated. MetS was diagnosed based on ATP III. We classified the participants into four cardiometabolic phenotypes: metabolically-healthy lean (MHL), metabolically-unhealthy lean (MUHL), metabolically-healthy obese (MHO), and metabolically-unhealthy obese (MUHO).

MHL (26.6%) and MHO (65.8 %) had the highest prevalence rates in the first and second SUA categories, respectively (P≤0.001). Compared to the lowest SUA category, the odds of MHO and MUHO increased by 3.13 (95% CI 2.21–4.44) and 5.50 (95%CI 3.53–8.57) in the highest category, respectively. This trend was not observed regarding the association between MUHL and the SUA classification.

We propose using the easily-measured SUA level as a marker for early diagnosis of at-risk MUHL and MHO individuals to administer proper interventions. Further prospective studies are needed to identify the effects of SUA on the progression of MetS in various body-size subgroups.