IMPAIRED LIPOPROTEIN METABOLISM IN PATIENTS WITH PRIMARY GOUT--INFLUENCE OF ALCOHOL INTAKE AND BODY WEIGHT

Using logistic regression analysh, we investigated whether ornot excessive alcohol intake and increased BMI, both of whichare known causes of lipid metabolism abnormality, are associatedwith increased serum triglyceride, apolipoprotein B concentrationsand decreased high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C),high-density lipoprotein 2 cholesterol (HDL₂-C) levels in patientswith gout. Serum triglyceride levels were significantly higherin patients with gout than in normal subjects In contrast, serumlevels of HDL-C and HD₂-C were significantly lower in patientswith gout than in normal subjects. These results were furtheranalysed using stepwise logistic regression. This analysis demonstratedthat both serum triglyceride levels and alcohol consumptiondiscriminated subjects with gout from controls but BMI, HDL-Cand HDL₂-C did not, suggesting that increased serum triglyceridelevels exist intrinsically in gout, while decreased concentrationsof HDL-C and HDL₂-C may be attributed to hypertriglyceridaemia. KEY WORDS: Gout, Triglyceride, Highdensity lipoprotein cholesterol, Alcohol, Body weight