PREVALENCE AND POSSIBLE CAUSES OF HYPOURICEMIA AT A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL IN SOUTH KOREA

Abstract

Background: Few studies of factors affecting hypouricemia have been conducted on Koreans. We aimed to investigate the prevalence and possible causes of hypouricemia in the Korean population and to compare our fi ndings to published results of other populations. Methods: We retrospectively examined serum uric acid levels from 29,672 subjects who visited outpatient clinics (n = 23,228) or were admitted to a tertiary care hospital (n = 6,444) between January 2012 and December 2012. These subjects had their uric acid values measured at least once during the one-year period. All individuals with hypouricemia (serum uric acid < 2.0 mg/dL, n = 424) were reviewed with respect to medical drug history and concomitant diseases identifi ed previously as being associated with hypouricemia. Results: The prevalence of hypouricemia among inpatients was 4.6% (299/6,444) and that among outpatients was 0.5% (125/23,228), for an overall prevalence of 1.4% (424/29,672). The possible causes associated with hypouricemia were solid or hematologic malignancies (n = 86), diabetes mellitus (n = 56), and therapeutic drugs (n = 29). The medications were allopurinol (n = 11), angiotesin II receptor blockers (n = 10), salicylates (n = 6), febuxostat (n = 1), and warfarin (n = 1). In remaining 226 individuals, the cause of hypouricemia was not identifi ed. Overall, the prevalence and causes of hypouricemia were similar to those among the European population. Conclusions: Hypouricemia is relatively common in the Korean population. The possible causes associated with hypouricemia are related to underlying diseases and medications, and idiopathic hypouricemia such as hereditary renal hypouricemia does not appear to be rare. Although we cannot definitely conclude because fractional excretion of uric acid was not measured, genetic testing is considered necessary for patients with no known causal diseases or medications.