Korean J Intern Med.  2016 Sep;31(5):971-976. 10.3904/kjim.2015.125.

Prevalence and possible causes of hypouricemia at a tertiary care hospital

• Son CN
• Kim JM
• Kim SH
• Cho SK
• Choi CB
• Sung YK
• Kim TH
• Bae SC
• Yoo DH
• Jun JB

• KMID: 2350987
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3904/kjim.2015.125

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS
We aimed to investigate the prevalence and possible causes of hypouricemia in the Korean population and to compare our findings with published results of other populations.
METHODS
We examined the serum uric acid levels of 30,757 subjects who had their uric acid values measured at least once during a 1-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 previously identified as being associated with hypouricemia.
RESULTS
The prevalence of hypouricemia was 4.14% (299/7,223) among inpatients and 0.53% (125/23,534) among outpatients, for an overall prevalence of 1.39% (424/30,757). Possible causes associated with hypouricemia were found to be solid or hematologic malignancies (n = 86), diabetes mellitus (n = 56), and therapeutic drugs (n = 29). The medications were allopurinol (n = 11), angiotensin II receptor blockers (n = 10), salicylates (n = 6), febuxostat (n = 1), and warfarin (n = 1). In the remaining 226 individuals, the cause of hypouricemia was not identified.
CONCLUSIONS
Hypouricemia is relatively common in the Korean population compared to those of other countries. The possible causes associated with hypouricemia are related to underlying diseases and medications.

Keyword

Hypouricemia; Uric acid

MeSH Terms

Allopurinol
Angiotensin Receptor Antagonists
Diabetes Mellitus
Febuxostat
Hematologic Neoplasms
Humans
Inpatients
Outpatients
Prevalence*
Salicylates
Tertiary Healthcare*
Uric Acid
Warfarin
Allopurinol
Angiotensin Receptor Antagonists
Febuxostat
Salicylates
Uric Acid
Warfarin