Association Between Abdominal Obesity and Hyperuricemia in Peruvian Adults with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.

BACKGROUND

Abdominal obesity (AO) is associated with hyperuricemia (HU) in people with type 2 diabetes (T2DM), but most evidence comes from Asian studies and Latin American data are scarce. This study addresses that gap in a Peruvian setting. We aimed to evaluate the association between AO and HU in adult Peruvians diagnosed with T2DM.

METHODS

We carried out a cross-sectional observational study in adults with T2DM in a private clinic in Lima - Peru. We defined HU as serum uric acid ⩾ 6 mg/dL and defined AO as waist circumference ⩾ 94 cm in men and ⩾88 cm in women. In addition, we estimated crude and adjusted prevalence ratios (PRs) with 95% CIs for the AO-HU association, adjusting for sex, glycosylated hemoglobin, estimated glomerular filtration rate, and systolic/diastolic blood pressure.

RESULTS

We evaluated 815 adults with T2DM. 62.6% were male, and the average age was 57 years. AO was present in 82.9% and HU in 22.7%. The prevalence of HU in adults with AO was 24.3%, while the prevalence was 15.1% in those not obese. AO was associated with HU in the crude analysis (cPR: 1.60 95% CI 1.05-2.43) and remained statistically significant after adjustment for sex, glycosylated hemoglobin, estimated glomerular filtration rate, and systolic/diastolic blood pressure (aPR: 1.95 95% CI 1.31-2.90).

CONCLUSION

In Peruvian adults with T2DM, abdominal obesity was associated with nearly double the prevalence of hyperuricemia. Because waist circumference is simple and low-cost to measure, integrating it into routine diabetes visits, along with targeted uric acid screening and management, may enhance cardiometabolic risk stratification and guide timely interventions.