Gender impact on the correlations between subclinical thyroid dysfunction and hyperuricemia in Chinese.

Overt hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism can lead to hyperuricemia. However, few data are available regarding the association between subclinical thyroid dysfunction and hyperuricemia, especially from the perspective of gender impact. This study aimed to investigate the association between subclinical thyroid disorders and hyperuricemia with emphasized focuses on differences resulting from different gender. Eleven thousand four hundred forty-six healthy subjects (6870 male, 4576 female) were enrolled in this cross-sectional study, with exclusions of known thyroid, renal, hepatic, gastrointestinal, or oncological diseases. Clinical data including anthropometric measurements, thyroid function, uric acid, renal and liver function were collected. The associations between thyroid function and hyperuricemia of males and females were analyzed separately. Prevalence of hyperuricemia was substantially higher in male (23.17%) than that in female (9.11%). Serum uric acid was correlated well with various factors, especially with creatinine, whose coefficients were 0.283 and 0.386 for males and females. The significantly elevated risk for hyperuricemia was observed in mild hypothyroidism male participants with an odd ratio of 1.49 (1.10-2.02), whereas no statistical risk was found in female. No meaningful risk was found in mild hyperthyroidism participants. Estimated glomerular filtration rate was significantly depressed in both genders with mild hypothyroidism, while obviously increased in both genders with mild hyperthyroidism. For hyperuricemia, mild hypothyroidism is a risk factor in males while it is not in females. This difference could be caused by the protective effect of estrogen in females. Monitoring serum uric acid in subclinical hypothyroidism is more necessary in males.