Moderate physical activity lowers hyperuricaemia risk

Moderate physical activity (PA) appears to help in reducing the risk of hyperuricaemia, according to a study in a multiethnic Chinese population. In addition, decreasing sedentary time (ST) appears to be more beneficial in women than in men.

A team of investigators examined the association of PA, ST (leisure and total ST) and commuting mode with hyperuricaemia in a Chinese population, and analysed the difference between sexes. They analysed baseline data from 22,094 participants from the China Multi-Ethnic Cohort study in the Yunnan region.

Questionnaires were used to assess PA and sedentary behaviour. Hyperuricaemia was defined as serum urate >7.0 mg/dL among men and >6.0 mg/dL among women.

The investigators created a restricted cubic spline (RCS) to model the possible nonlinear relationship of PA and ST with hyperuricaemia. They estimated the odds ratio (OR) and 95 percent confidence interval (CI) using logistic regression.

The prevalence of hyperuricaemia was 15.5 percent: 25.5 percent in men and 10.7 percent in women. Participants with moderate-to-vigorous PA were less likely to develop hyperuricaemia than those with light PA (adjusted ORs, 0.85, 95 percent CI, 0.77‒0.94 and 0.88, 95 percent CI, 0.79‒0.97, respectively).

RCS, however, displayed a U-shaped nonlinear relationship between PA and hyperuricaemia and a linear relationship between hyperuricaemia prevalence and increasing ST.

Total ST ≥4 hours/day resulted in a higher risk of hyperuricaemia in women but not in men. In addition, mode of transportation revealed that sedentary behaviour elevated the risk of hyperuricaemia, but results based on sex were inconsistent.