Serum uric acid concentrations and arthralgia among patients treated with pyrazinamide-containing regimens in Hong Kong and Singapore.

The serum uric acid concentrations of patients being treated in Hong Kong and Singapore with a daily regimen consisting of streptomycin, isoniazid, rifampicin and pyrazinamide or a control regimen of daily streptomycin, p-amino-salicylic acid (PAS) and isoniazid were determined by the phosphotungstate method. Arthralgia and elevated serum uric acid levels were encountered only during the period that patients were being treated with pyrazinamide. Although daily treatment with pyrazinamide increased serum uric acid concentrations approximately 2.5-fold, the concentrations of the 6 patients who developed arthralgia were closely similar to those of matched controls without arthralgia. This fails to confirm a previous suggestion that patients with arthralgia might have higher values. Rifampicin appeared not to influence the hyperuricaemic effect of pyrazinamide.