hyperuricaemia and hyperlipidaemia

Last reviewed 10/2023

• a high proportion of patients with hypertriglyceridaemia (approximately 50%) also have hyperuricaemia
  • the reason for the association is unclear because there is no causal relationship between hypertriglyceridaemia and gout - there are however common associations between the two pathologies (e.g. obesity and high alcohol consumption)
  • lipid lowering medication, in general, does not affect urate levels
    • the exceptions to this are treatment with nicotinic acid which results in raised urate levels, and, treatment with fenofibate which results in lower urate levels. The urate lowering effect of fenofibrate is via an independent uricosuric effect and not secondary to lipid lowering