The Relationship between Uric Acid and Homocysteine Levels based on Alcohol-related Facial Flushing

Eo Chin Kim; Jong Sung Kim; Won Chul Uh; Soo Young Choi; Sun Kyung Lee; Bog Seon Jeong

doi:10.15384/kjhp.2015.15.3.91

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Kim, Kim, Uh, Choi, Lee, and Jeong: The Relationship between Uric Acid and Homocysteine Levels based on Alcohol-related Facial Flushing

Original Article

Korean J Health Promot 2015;15(3):91-97.

Published online: 19 December 2015

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15384/kjhp.2015.15.3.91

The Relationship between Uric Acid and Homocysteine Levels based on Alcohol-related Facial Flushing

Eo Chin Kim¹, Jong Sung Kim², Won Chul Uh¹, Soo Young Choi³, Sun Kyung Lee¹, Bog Seon Jeong⁴

¹Health Promotion Center, Daejeon St. Mary’s Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Daejeon, Korea

²Department of Family Medicine, Chungnam National University Hospital, Chungnam National University School of Medicine, Daejeon, Korea

³Department of Family Medicine, Chungnam National University School of Medicine, Daejeon, Korea

⁴Department of Family Medicine, Daejeon Veterans Hospital, Daejeon, Korea

￭ Corresponding author：Jong Sung Kim, MD, PhD Department of Family Medicine, Chungnam National University Hospital, Chungnam National University School of Medicine, 282 Munhwa-ro, Jung-gu, Daejeon 35015, Korea Tel: +82-42-280-8172, Fax: +82-42-280-7879 E-mail: jskim@cnuh.co.kr

Received 23 April 2015 Accepted 15 September 2015

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Background

This study aimed to determine the correlation between blood uric acid and homocysteine levels, based on alcohol-related facial flushing.

Methods

Among male adults who visited a health examination center of a university hospital located in Daejeon, Korea, for a personal health examination from March 2013 to February 2014, 702 subjects were analyzed including 401 subjects without alcohol-related facial flushing and 301 with facial flushing. Pearson’s correlation and stepwise multivariate linear regression analyses were performed between the log homocysteine levels and other variables including uric acid.

Results

Uric acid showed a significant positive correlation with log homocysteine (γ =0.166, P=0.001) (ß=0.176; P=0.001) in the non-flushing group. In contrast, none of the variables showed any significant correlations with log homocysteine in the flushing group.

Conclusions

Alcohol users not exhibiting alcohol-related facial flushing showed a positive correlation between uric acid and homocysteine levels, whereas those without facial flushing showed no such correlation.

Keywords: Homocysteine, Uric acid, Flushing, Alcohol drinking

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Table 1.

Characteristics of study subjects^a

	Non-flushing group (n=401)	Flushing group (n=301)
Age, y	51.2±9.5	51.7±9.4
Body mass index, kg/m²	25.2±3.2	25.3±2.8
Hypertension	92 (22.9)	69 (22.9)
Diabetes	25 (6.2)	25 (8.3)
Current-smoking	236 (58.9)	165 (54.8)
Drinking amount, drinks/wk	12.5 (4.0-20.0)^b	7.5 (2.3-19.8)^b
Uric acid, mg/dL	6.4±1.3	6.3±1.3
Homocysteine, μmol/L	11.5 (9.8-13.4)	11.7 (10.3-13.3)
Total-cholesterol, mg/dL	195.8±35.6	191.8±35.8
LDL-C, mg/dL	111.5±30.5	110.0±30.1
HDL-C, mg/dL	48.0 (42.0-54.0)^c	46.0 (40.0-52.0)^c
Triglyceride, mg/dL	144.0 (95.5-206.0)	138.0 (98.5-202.5)
AST, mg/dL	23.0 (19.0-28.0)	23.0 (20.0-30.0)
ALT, mg/dL	26.0 (20.0-35.0)	27.0 (20.0-39.0)
γ-GTP, mg/dL	31.0 (19.5-60.5)	33.0 (20.0-58.0)
eGFR, mL/min/1.73 m²	92.1 (82.9-104.1)	92.1 (82.6-103.8)

Abbreviations: AST, aspartate aminotransferase; ALT, alanine aminotransferase; γ-GTP, gamma-glutamyl transferase; eGFR, estimated glomerular filtration rate; HDL-C, high density lipoprotein cholesterol; LDL-C, low density lipoprotein cholesterol.

^a Values are presented as N (%) or mean±SD or median expression (interquartile range).

^b <0.001, analysis with Mann-Whitney test or chi-square test (1 drink=alcohol 14 g).

^c <0.05, analysis with Mann-Whitney test or chi-square test.

Table 2.

Correlations between log homocysteine and other variables (non adjusted)

	Non-flushing group (n=401)	Flushing group (n=301)
	r	r
Age	0.070	0.043
BMI	-0.064	-0.093
Total cholesterol	0.111^a	0.019
LDL-C	0.088	-0.004
Log HDL-C	0.068	-0.013
Log TG	-0.024	0.045
Uric acid	0.166^b	0.087
Log AST	0.038	0.052
Log ALT Log r-GTP	-0.055 0.091	-0.085 -0.014

Abbreviations: r, correlation coefficient; BMI, body mass index; AST, aspartate aminotransferase; ALT, alanine aminotransferase; γ -GTP, gamma-glutamyl transferase; HDL-C, high density lipoprotein cholesterol; LDL-C, low density lipoprotein cholesterol; TG, triglyceride.

^a <0.05 analysis of variance with Pearson’s correlation test.

^b <0.01 analysis of variance with Pearson’s correlation test.

Table 3.

Log homocysteine by amount of alcohol

Drinks/wk	Non-flushing group (n)	Flushing group (n)
≥0.5, <4	2.5±0.3 (84)	2.5±0.2 (102)
≥4, <8 ≥8	2.5±0.2 (70) 2.5±0.3 (247)	2.5±0.3 (62) 2.5±0.2 (137)

Values are presented as mean±SD.

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