Tuberc Respir Dis.  1979 Mar;26(1):24-26. 10.4046/trd.1979.26.1.24.

The Effect of Ethambutol on Uric Acid Metabolism

• KMID: 2528908
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4046/trd.1979.26.1.24

Abstract

Ethambutol has found its wide clinical acceptance as an effective agents for the treatment of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis infection in human. There were different reports that ethambutol has an effect on the uric acid metabolism by some authers. We studied the effect of ethambutol therapy in a daily dose of 8PO mg on the uric acid metabolism in 40 active tuberculosis patients (male: 14 and female 26), who had normal kidney function and no metabolic disorders. on a regular hospital low-purine diet. 1) The serm concentration of uric acid were 3.2±0.9mg/ dl before treatment and 4.1±1.3 mg/dl after ethambutol therapy for 5 days. 2) The ratio of urate clearance to creatinine clearance (C urate / C creatinine) were 0.16::t 0.09 before treatment and 0.15±0.08 after ethambutol therapy for 5 days 3) The ratio of urine urate to urine creatinine ( U urate/U creatinine) werl 0.60 ± O.l8 before treatment and 0.54 ± 0.20 after ethambutol therapy for 5 days. Our studies suggests that that ethambutol produces hyperuricemia by decreasing renal clearance of uric acid.