Elevated serum uric acid predicts future risk of hip fractures

Elevations in serum uric acid (SUA) levels may be a warning signal for the risk of developing hip fractures at age ≥50 years, especially in men, according to a study.

Researchers collected baseline data on SUA levels and covariates (age, body mass index, blood pressure, smoking status, diabetes, triglycerides, and cholesterol) from 185,397 individuals during a medical prevention programme (1985–2005) in Vorarlberg, Austria. Information on incident cancer and end-stage kidney disease was drawn from registries.

The analysis included 42,488 women and 35,908 men, with the main outcome measure being incident hip fracture occurring ≥50 years of age during the observation period (2003–2013).

Each unit increase in SUA increased the risk of female hip fracture by 6 percent (hazard ratio [HR], 1.06, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.01–1.10). As expected, the risk was significantly elevated in the highest versus lowest SUA quartile (HR, 1.17, 95 percent CI, 1.01–1.35), but not at hyperuricaemic (>5.7 mg/dl) versus normouricaemic (≤5.7 mg/dl) levels.

In men, the risk of hip fracture risk rose by 15 percent per unit increase in SUA (HR, 1.15, 95 percent CI, 1.08–1.22), and the risk was significant in the highest versus lowest quartile (HR, 1.50, 95 percent CI, 1.17–1.91) as well as at hyperuricaemic (>7.0 mg/dl) versus normouricaemic (≤7.0 mg/dl) levels (HR, 1.48, 95 percent CI, 1.19-1.84).