Serum uric acid and cardiovascular risk: State of the art and perspectives

Hyperuricaemia is commonly found in subjects with cardiovascular disease, but its role as risk factor is very controversial. Although several studies reported serum uric acid as a marker of an underlying pathophysiological process, other studies hypothesis a potential causal link between serum uric acid and cardiovascular diseases. Some studies suggest that uric acid is biologically active and may have an atherogenesis role in development of cardiovascular diseases, although the mechanisms are not fully understood. Other studies have shown that uric acid can independently predict the development of some cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension and metabolic syndrome, as well as myocardial infarction and stroke. The relations between serum uric acid and established cardiovascular risk factors are complex, and these latter could be considered as confounding factors. In this report, we review the inextricably link of serum uric acid to known cardiovascular risk factors, and we describe the possible mechanisms and potential causative role between serum uric acid and cardiovascular events in the general population, in subjects with cardiovascular risk factors and in those with pre-existing cardiovascular diseases. Limited information however is available concerning the impact of urate-lowering treatments on cardiovascular events, whereas only a positive therapeutic trial could give definite answers to the difficult problem of causality of uric acid in relation to cardiovascular risk. Thus, it is time to propose the design of a therapeutic trial, integrating cardiologists and rheumatologists, in order to further decrease cardiovascular risk.