The Bidirectional Relationship Between Serum Uric Acid and Hypertension
Xiang Shu, Kaiwen Deng, Min Zhang, Bo Li, Dongqing Gu, Wantai Dang, Weizhong Chen, Ziqian ZengBackground
Hypertension (HTN) may influence other chronic diseases, and a bidirectional relationship between HTN and serum uric acid (SUA) has been suggested, but evidence is insufficient. Body mass index (BMI) is associated with both HTN and SUA levels and may mediate their causal relationship. This study investigates the bidirectional causal relationship between HTN and SUA levels and the mediating effects of BMI.
Methods
The two‐sample bidirectional and mediation Mendelian randomization (MR) studies were conducted. In the first part, we conducted the univariable and multivariable bidirectional MR analyses. In the second part, BMI was included in the MR analyses as a mediator. Summary data on HTN, SUA, and BMI were obtained from the FinnGen, GWAS Catalog, and IEU OpenGWAS database.
Results
The sample sizes of the European population included in analyses were 478,149 individuals for HTN, 343,836 for SUA, and 99,998 for BMI. In the European population, genetically predicted higher SUA was associated with increased HTN risk (OR = 1.215; 95% CI: 1.119 ∼ 1.320). HTN had an effect on SUA (OR = 1.018; 95% CI: 1.003 ∼ 1.033), in which the indirect effect via BMI showed an estimate of 0.006 (95% CI, 0.002 ∼ 0.010) with the mediated proportion of 27.3% (95% CI, 5.6% ∼ 48.9%).
Conclusion
A bidirectional relationship between SUA and HTN was identified in the European population, with BMI partially mediating the effect of HTN on SUA.