Department of Family Medicine and Infectious Diseases, School of Medicine, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Poland.
Department of Water Management and Climatology, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Poland.
Sci Total Environ. 2022 May 1;819:152020. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.152020. Epub 2022 Jan 7.
Hyperuricemia is an independent risk factor for renal and cardiovascular diseases and is closely associated with gout episodes. It is caused, inter alia, by nutritional habits and genetic factors, and also displays seasonal variability conditioned by meteorological factors. The impact of meteorological factors, including both cold and heat stress, on the human physiology is presented based on the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) - a biometeorological index derived from an analysis of human thermal balance. The aim of our study was to establish whether seasonal variations significantly affect routinely measured urine acid (UA) levels and could eventually support the clinical decision making process, as well as assessing whether UTCI values are correlated with UA levels in blood serum. This work presents a retrospective epidemiological study of data collected in Olsztyn (Poland). Study material comprised 54,536 results of ambulatory tests measuring UA levels, performed during the period 2016-2019. The analysis concerned correlations between UA and the ages of female and male subjects as well as existing biometeorological conditions as represented by UTCI values in an annual cycle. UA levels in females were found to be lower (4.94 ± 1.37 SD) as compared to those of males (6.13 ± 1.43 SD) and demonstrated a strong positive correlation with age. UA values differed significantly (p < 0.05) on days characterized by cold stress and heat stress, for the oldest age group. UA levels were found to differ depending on the season, but these relationships were not statistically significant, except for significantly higher UA levels in females in autumn (p < 0.001). However, there was an evident difference in population UA levels under cold stress conditions (lower) and heat stress conditions (higher) in the elderly. The UTCI is an adequate predictor of population variations in UA levels since it takes into account the variability of local meteorological conditions.
高尿酸血症是肾脏和心血管疾病的独立危险因素，与痛风发作密切相关。它主要由营养习惯和遗传因素引起，并且还表现出受气象因素影响的季节性变化。基于人类热平衡分析得出的生物气象指数——通用热气候指数（UTCI），本文介绍了气象因素（包括冷应激和热应激）对人体生理的影响。我们的研究目的是确定季节性变化是否会显著影响常规测量的尿酸性（UA）水平，并最终为临床决策提供支持，同时评估 UTCI 值是否与血清中 UA 水平相关。本工作是对在波兰奥尔什丁采集的数据进行的回顾性流行病学研究。研究材料包括 2016 年至 2019 年期间进行的 54536 次门诊 UA 水平测量结果。分析了 UA 与女性和男性受检者年龄以及代表年度周期中 UTCI 值的现有生物气象条件之间的相关性。女性的 UA 水平（4.94 ± 1.37 SD）明显低于男性（6.13 ± 1.43 SD），且与年龄呈强正相关。在年龄最大的组中，UA 值在冷应激和热应激日有显著差异（p < 0.05）。UA 值因季节而异，但除了女性秋季 UA 水平显著升高（p < 0.001）外，这些关系无统计学意义。然而，在老年人中，UA 水平在冷应激条件下（较低）和热应激条件下（较高）存在明显差异。UTCI 是 UA 水平人群变化的一个很好的预测指标，因为它考虑到了当地气象条件的可变性。
