Elevated serum uric acid concentrations (hyperuricaemia) are the single most important risk factor for gout and increasing evidence suggests that it is a major metabolic disorder associated with adverse health outcomes.
The overall goal of this study is to describe the burden of hyperuricaemia among patients within the Irish Health system and determine whether specific subgroups of patients with chronic conditions such as diabetes and kidney disease have higher rates of disease.
It is our belief that hyperuricaemia is common among patients who are already present and monitored within the Irish health system, and that the threshold levels associated with higher death rates lie within the normal laboratory range for serum uric acid. In this study we will:
1) determine the burden of hyperuricaemia among patients in the Irish Health System;
2) explore variation in prevalence among demographic and clinical subgroups including: men and women; across age groups, patients with and without chronic kidney disease, and diabetes
3) explore the association of uric acid with subsequent risk of all-cause mortality.
We anticipate that this study will provide valuable insights into the burden of hyperuricaemia and associated impact on major adverse outcomes in the Health System. We will identify high-risk subgroups; determine the variation across demographic and clinical subgroups; and determine the proportion of subjects with urate levels above current thresholds. We will evaluate the impact of uric acid on death risk and determine to what extent this relationship can be explained by adjustment for by known mortality risk factors.
