Orinta Klimaitė¹, Laura Dobrovaitė¹, Liveta Sereikaitė¹

¹Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Academy of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kaunas, Lithuania

Abstract

Hyperuricemia is a very common biochemical aberration characterized by abnormally elevated levels of serum urate > 420 µmol/l in males or > 360 µmol/l in females.  This is a common condition detected 20 to 25 percent of adult men and a smaller proportion of women in some populations. Asymptomatic hyperuricemia is a concept associated with laboratory evidence of elevated serum uric acid without clinical disease known to be caused by hyperuricemia. This condition is usually related with gout, urolithiasis, or uric acid nephropathy but also been associated with other disorders without crystal deposition, including hypertension, chronic kidney disease, metabolic syndrome, and cardiovascular disease. The blood testing for serum uric acid is cheap and easily available in most hospitals. Although about two-thirds or more individuals how have these clinical manifestations never developing gout, acute or chronic hyperuricemic nephropathy, or uric acid nephrolithiasis. On the other hand new evidence regarding the benefits of treatment of hyperuricemia cannot be ignored. It is very important for physicians to recognize patients not only from a rheumatological standpoint but also to identify patients who may have increased serum urate level because of a purine rich diet, genetic or environmental factors, metabolic disorders or endogenous overproduction. Not all patients with elevated serum uric acid support pharmacotherapy. Treatment depends on the concentration of uric acid in the blood serum and the cause of the hyperuricemia. Early diagnosis and individual treatment can help prevent long – distance complications.

Keywords: asymptomatic hyperuricemia, crystal deposition, serum urate acid, comorbidities.