FROM DIABETES
Despite observed associations between uric acid concentrations and diabetes risk, the relationship has not been found to be causal, according to results published April 27 in the journal Diabetes.
Dr. Ivonne Sluijs of University Medical Center Utrecht (the Netherlands) and her associates performed a Mendelian randomization study in a cohort of 24,265 European patients using 24 uric acid loci.
Higher uric acid concentrations were associated with greater diabetes risk (hazard ratio, 1.20 per 59.48 μmol/L; 95% CI, 1.11-1.30), though this did not have a causal effect on diabetes, the authors reported (HR, 1.01; 95% CI, 0.87-1.16).
The findings suggest that “increased uric acid concentrations are a consequence of an adverse metabolic profile, rather than a cause of diabetes,” Dr. Sluijs and her associates wrote (Diabetes 2015 April 27 [ doi:10.2337/db14-0742 ]). Thus, therapies that lower uric acid may not be effective in lowering diabetes risk, they said. “Uric acid has limited value as therapeutic target in preventing diabetes,” the investigators concluded.
Dr. Slujis and her associates did not disclose any conflicts of interest.
