[Study of hyperuricemia in Tahiti. 31 cases hospitalized at the Territorial Hospital Center in Papeete (Tahiti)].

Frequency of gout in French Polynesia has induced us to define a type of "hyperuricemia Polynesian" from a population of patients admitted in a general Medicine Ward. Each admitted patient gets immediately a blood check-up. A figure higher than 70 mg/l in male and 60 mg/l in female is considered as pathological. In such a case, uricemia and uraturia are tested every 24 h for three days and we consider the mean value of these three tests. On the other side, some admitted patients non-hyperuricemic, are examined according to the same protocol. So, we have two groups: 31 hyperuricemics and 20 non-hyperuricemics, secondarily grouped according to age, sex, ethnic. We did not consider some secondary causes of hyperuricemia (chronic renal insufficiency diuretic treatment, psoriasis etc.). 1. Within the hyperuricemic population, mean uricemia is 85.35 mg/l versus 52.65 mg/l in the second sample. In the hyperuricemic group (21 males and 10 females) 48% are gouty and 13% of them are females. Articular manifestations are acute arthritis, affecting mainly inferior limbs, ankles, knees). We did not notice any significant divergence between uricemia and uraturia of gouty and non gouty people. Within the group of gouty people, percentage of individual hyper excretion is 53% (uraturia greater than 600 mg/24 h) with no significant divergence with the non-gouty group: Nephrolithiasis is rare (3%). There is no significant divergence between urinary pH of gouty and non-gouty people. Associated metabolic troubles are: diabetes (26%) high triglyceridemia (43%) three syndromes associated together (hyperuricemia + diabetes + hypertriglyceridemia) in 19.5%, total cholesterol is normal (2.07 g/l) but a low cholesterol (0.30 g/l).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)