Serum uric acid (SUA) levels have been proposed as a biomarker of coronary artery disease (CAD) and coronary collateral circulation (CCC). We investigated the association between SUA levels and development of CCC in patients with stable CAD. Consecutive patients (n = 480) with stable CAD who underwent coronary angiography and documented total occlusion in 1 of the major coronary arteries were included in this study. Levels of fasting blood glucose, white blood cell (WBC), creatinine, platelet count, and SUA were significantly higher in patients with poor CCC than in those with good CCC. After multivariate analysis, high levels of SUA were an independent predictor of CCC together with levels of fasting blood glucose and WBC. The receiver-operating characteristic analysis provided a cutoff value of 5.65 mg/dL for SUA to predict poor CCC with 60% sensitivity and 66% specificity. High levels of SUA may be associated with poor CCC in patients with stable CAD.
Keywords: coronary angiography; coronary artery disease; coronary collateral circulation; uric acid.