Title: Correlating Uric Acid levels with Echocardiographic findings in Pulmonary Hypertension
Authors: Dr Vishvesh Patel, Dr Varun Shetty, Dr Santawana Chandrakar
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18535/jmscr/v6i11.47
Abstract
Introduction: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is characterized by elevated pulmonary arterial pressure and secondary right ventricular failure and can be a diagnostic challenge. This study aimed at assessing how uric acid levels correlate with echocardiographic findings of PH.
Methodology: We performed a case-control study in the Department of Medicine, DY Patil School of Medicine and Hospital, Navi Mumbai from July 2017 till July 2018. All consecutive patients who were diagnosed with PH at our centre during the study period and age/gender matched controls were enrolled in the study. Transthoracic echocardiography and relevant haematological investigations were ordered.
Results: Demographic variables of both the study groups were similar at the baseline. Serum uric acid levels were significantly higher among cases (9.17 ± 1.37 mg/dl) as compared to controls (6.62 ± 1.83 mg/dl, p value <0.05). Echocardiography revealed that the systolic and diastolic ejection fractions were not significantly different among cases or controls. Systolic pulmonary artery pressure was significantly higher among cases as compared to controls (27.2 ± 2.2 vs 18.5 ± 2.7 mm Hg, p value <0.05). Similarly, diastolic and mean pulmonary artery pressures were also higher among cases as compared to controls. Furthermore, we found the uric acid levels to be significantly positively correlated with systolic pulmonary artery pressure (r = 0.75, p value <0.001), and inversely correlated with left ventricular ejection fraction (r = -0.44, p value <0.01) and right ventricular ejection fraction (r= -0.62, p value < 0.01).
Conclusions: There is a strong and significant positive correlation between systolic pulmonary artery pressure and uric acid levels and inverse correlation with ejection fractions.
Keywords: uric acid; pulmonary hypertension; pulmonary arterial pressure; hyperuricemia
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