Relationship between the level of daily alcohol intake and serum uric acid concentrations in a sample of young men from Cameroon, sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

Background: Despite the fact that alcohol is predominantly consumed by young men, there are few studies among this population in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) about the relationship of the level of alcohol consumed and Serum Uric Acid values (SUA).

Objective: The study aimed at investigating the relationship between regular alcohol consumption and uricemia in Cameroonian men aged under 45 years.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study done in Yaoundé (Cameroon), on healthy males aged 18 to 45 years with regular alcohol consumption within the last three months. We assessed their Ethylic Index (EI), purine-rich diet, SUA and hepatic and haematological biomarkers of chronic alcohol consumption. We compared their SUA according to the level of alcohol consumption (low <20, moderate 20-39.9 and elevated ≥40g/L) using the ANOVA test, and search for other associated factors through multivariate linear regression. The threshold of significance was 0.05.

Results: One hundred and fifty seven participants were included: mean age 30.6 (5.8) years, median duration of alcohol consumption 10 [7; 15] years and median EI 24.1 [14.4; 37.1] g/day. Beer consumption was predominant (94.9%); moderate and elevated consumption found in 36.3 and 23.3% of participants respectively. Hyperuricemia was found in 38 (24.2%) participants, associated with diet (p=0.04) and diastolic blood pressure (p=0.04). No difference in SUA between alcohol consumption groups (p=0.26). However, SAU were higher in participants with elevated Gamma Glutamyl-Transferase (GGT) (0.018), and GGT were found to be biomarkers of alcohol consumption (p<0.001).

Conclusions: EI does not seem to reflect the link between alcohol and SUA in young men. However, the association of SUA with GGT represents a relevant biological finding, linking chronic alcohol consumption to uricemia in this population.