Association of Serum Uric Acid Level and Thyroid Function in Chronic Kidney Disease: A Hospital-Based Cross-Sectional Study From Northeast India

Cureus. 2024 Sep 14;16(9):e69392. doi: 10.7759/cureus.69392. eCollection 2024 Sep.

Abstract

Background: Although the prevalence of thyroid dysfunction and hyperuricemia are independently high in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), there are limited data showing the association of serum uric acid and thyroid function in those with CKD.

Aim and objectives: The aim of this study was to observe the alteration of both the serum uric acid level and thyroid function in CKD patients and to find the association between both.

Materials and methods: This observational cross-sectional study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital over a period of one year in Northeast India. A total of 50 CKD patients were enrolled. Their demographic profiles were studied. Serum urea, creatinine, thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), total triiodothyronine (TT3), free triiodothyronine (FT3), total tetraiodothyronine (TT4), and free tetraiodothyronine (FT4) levels were measured to establish the correlation of serum uric acid along with each of the parameters separately. A p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: In the CKD patients studied, serum uric acid exhibited positive correlations with serum creatinine (p = 0.001, r = 0.67), serum urea (p = 0.001, r = 0.69), and serum TSH levels (p = 0.001, r = 0.5). Conversely, serum uric acid showed negative correlations with serum TT4 (p = 0.001, r = -0.74), TT3 (p = 0.001, r = -0.6), FT4 (p = 0.001, r = -0.53), and FT3 (p = 0.001, r = -0.58) levels.

Conclusion: There was a significant positive correlation between uric acid and TSH levels in CKD patients. Thus, early estimation of both parameters should be considered in CKD patients.

Keywords: chronic kidney disease (ckd); creatinine (creat); serum urea; serum uric acid level; thyroid function test (tft).