The current study aimed to investigate whether high serum uric acid (SUA) independently predicts all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality, and sudden cardiac death in subjects scheduled for coronary angiography. A total of 3245 individuals enrolled in the Ludwigshafen Risk and Cardiovascular health (LURIC) study were included in the analysis. A total of 730 deaths occurred during the mean follow-up duration of 7.3 (±2.3) years. Among these, cardiovascular diseases and sudden cardiac death accounted for 64.8% and 25.2%, respectively. Adjusting for sex and age, subjects in the fourth SUA quartile had increased all-cause [hazard ratio (HR) = 1.68; p < 0.001] and cardiovascular (HR = 2.00; p < 0.001) mortality compared to individuals in the first quartile. Furthermore, high SUA was a risk factor for sudden cardiac death (HR = 2.27; p < 0.001). These associations remained significant with inclusion of cardiovascular risk factors and the severity of coronary atherosclerosis as covariates in the models. After adjustment for medication use, statistical significance for the association between the SUA quartiles and all-cause mortality disappeared. Therefore, high SUA independently indicated increased risk for cardiovascular and sudden cardiac death in subjects referred for coronary angiography. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2011 Jun 22. PMID: 21703834

The current study was conducted to investigate the relationship between total amylase and metabolic syndrome in 4495 Korean adults who denied any medical history or status of a disorder that could influence their serum amylase. Anthropometry, metabolic risk factors, and total amylase concentration were measured and each participant was categorized into one of four subgroups according to their total amylase concentration. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome by the National Cholesterol Education Program criteria was 13.4%, 15.3%, 19.3%, and 24.2% of those in the fourth, third, second, and lowest quartile of amylase concentration (P for trend < 0.001). After adjusting for age, sex, and body mass index, the odds ratios of the lower quartiles were significantly higher compared to the fourth quartile for the presence of metabolic syndrome. In the receiver-operating characteristics analysis, amylase was similar to uric acid as a significant diagnostic indicator for metabolic syndrome but it had lower diagnostic value than alanine aminotransferase, γ-glutamyltransferase, or C-reactive protein. The authors concluded that lower amylase concentrations are associated with an increased prevalence of metabolic syndrome and that measuring amylase levels may contribute to identifying metabolic syndrome. Clin Chim Acta. 2011 Sep 18;412(19-20):1848-53. PMID: 21726545