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Hyperuricemia is a disease that can be both genetic and acquired. It may be due to an incorrect lifestyle. This is too much uric acid in your blood. Hyperuricemia can be asymptomatic for a long time, and if left untreated, it can lead to, for example, kidney stones or gout.
Hyperuricemia occurs in both men and women. There are also no age limits at which the disease can become active, as too much uric acid can develop for a variety of reasons.
Hyperuricemia – what it is
The normal blood uric acid content is ≥ 6,8 milligrams per deciliter of blood. If this value is exceeded, one can speak of hyperuricemia. Uric acid is physiologically produced by our body, it is the last product of the metabolism of so-called purine compounds, for example DNA and RNA (the process of purine breakdown in the liver as a result of various types of enzymes). It is excreted in the urine (the kidney is the organ responsible for uric acid excretion), but about 20% reaches the digestive system, from which it should be removed with the faeces. When there is a situation in which this operation is disturbed, uric acid remains in our body.
Three things can lead to hyperuricemia:
- too much uric acid production
- reduced uric acid excretion
- too much uric acid production with reduced excretion
Hyperuricemia can be both congenital and acquired. Congenital hyperuricemia is the inheritance of enzymatic disorders associated with the transformation of purine compounds, an example may be Lesch-Nyhan syndrome.
What are the causes of acquired hyperuricemia?
- Hypothyroidism
- hypertension
- side effects of medications taken, e.g. acetylsalicylic acid
- kidney failure
- obesity
- alcoholism
Anticancer drugs can also cause too high uric acid levels in the blood, this is called tumor lysis syndrome. One of the causes of high levels of uric acid in the blood, which belongs to the group of atypical ones, is too much exercise.
In most cases, hyperuricemia does not give any obvious symptoms. It is diagnosed only when the patient experiences symptoms related to gout or kidney stones. In the case of gout, the patient may develop:
- stiffness, pain and limited mobility in the joints
- joint swelling
- redness of the joints
With kidney stones, the patient will experience:
- soreness when urinating
- difficulty urinating
- severe pain in the area of the loins, groin or stomach
- hematuria
Hyperuricemia – treatment
The disease is diagnosed during urine or blood serum tests, which is a measurement of the level of uric acid concentration. Other tests that the doctor orders are most often related to specific symptoms. In the case of people who develop gout, tests are performed on the fluid around the infected joints. However, in patients with nephrolithiasis, it is necessary to perform ultrasound, thanks to which it is possible to observe deposits in the urinary system.
In most cases, hyperuricaemia that is asymptomatic does not require treatment. The treatment is initiated when the uric acid concentration exceeds 5 mg / dl, especially in patients at risk of cardiovascular diseases. In people with gout, drugs are given to stop gout, i.e. to reduce the level of uric acid in the blood. A proper diet is also very important, from which you should eliminate sugar, red meat, offal and alcohol. In people with obesity, it is also necessary to reduce body weight.
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