Relationship between uric acid levels and cardiometabolic findings in a large cohort of β-thalassemia major patients.

Abstract

to evaluate the relationship between uric acid (UA), hepatic and cardiac iron overload (T2*-MRI), ferritin, endocrinological diseases and cardiac complications in a large thalassemia major (TM) cohort. A total of369 TM patients (187 men; 33±6years) were retrospectively studied, from the myocardial iron overload in thalassemia (MIOT) electronic databank. Multiple regression model identified male sex (p<0.001), BMI (p<0.001) and T2* (p≤0.001) as UA independent correlates. Moreover, UA and derivatives of reactive oxygen species (an oxidative index; r=-0.3; p≤0.05) are inversely correlated. Conversely, the multivariate logistic analysis identified low UA (NANHES-III criteria) as one independent predictor for low global heart T2* (p<0.5) together with liver iron concentrations (>3mg/g/dw), heart failure, endocrinopathies, ferritin (>2000ng/l), alanine transaminase (>40 UI/l) and/or aspartate transaminase (>35 UI/l) and/or glutamyl transferase (>64 UI/l). UA appears directly associated to T2* and inversely with derivatives of reactive oxygen species, and as such reduced according to increased oxidative stress and cardiac iron overload in TM patients.