Blood Levels of Uric Acid Predict Hypertension in Blacks
(HealthDay News, 12/1/06)

Every three years for over four examinations, researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, NC, checked the blood pressure of more than 9,100 adults, who had normal pressure at the outset. The investigators found that people with high blood levels of uric acid tended to have a greater risk of high blood pressure than their peers. This association was especially pronounced in black Americans. These findings suggest that uric acid assessment may predict the tendency to develop hypertension in blacks and dietary changes and medications that reduce uric acid could possibly help blood pressure-related disorders.

(Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, news release, November 2006)