Abstract
Introduction: Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a complex disease with poor prognosis. Serum uric acid has been proposed as a potentially non-invasive and objective parameter for prognosis and response to therapy.
Objectives: To investigate the potent relationship between serum uric acid levels and functional and echocardiographic parameters in children with PAH.
Methods: Serum uric acid levels were measured in 34 children with PAH and were correlated with the functional class, 6-minute walk test, and echocardiographic parameters at baseline and at 12 months follow-up.
Results: In pediatric PAH patients serum uric acid levels were higher compared with the control subjects (p = 0.001). In the high uric acid group serum uric acid levels were correlated with 6-minute walk test (p = 0.008), and with several echocardiographic parameters, such as pulmonary vascular resistance (p = 0.04), fractional area change (p = 0.05), left ventricle eccentricity index (p = 0.04), right atrial area (p = 0.03), right ventricle myocardial index (p = 0.01), and pericardial effusion (p = 0.001), markers of right ventricular overload and dysfunction.
Conclusions: Serum uric acid levels are easy to collect and measure, and correlate with both functional and echocardiographic parameters that reflect right ventricular dysfunction.