Low serum urate (SU) concentrations are associated with low lean mass, underweight, and higher rates of weight loss, according to a study published in Arthritis & Rheumatology. Joshua F. Baker, MD, and colleagues explored the relationship between low SU and body composition and whether this relationship confounded the association between SU and mortality among 13,979 participants. The proportion of patients with low appendicular lean mass index z-scores were 29% and 16% in the low and normal SU groups, respectively. Before adjusting for body composition, low SU was associated with increased mortality, but the association was no longer statistically significant after adjustment for body composition and weight loss. “These observations support what many have intuited, namely that people with low SU levels have higher mortality and worse outcomes not because low urate is bad for health, but rather that low urate levels tend to occur among sicker people, who have lost weight and have adverse body composition,” Dr. Baker said in a statement.

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