BACKGROUND: Hyperuricemia is associated with a poorer prognosis in heart failure (HF) patients. Benefits of hyperuricemia treatment with allopurinol have not yet been confirmed in clinical practice. The aim of our work was to assess the benefit of allopurinol treatment in a large cohort of HF patients. METHODS: The prospective acute heart failure registry (AHEAD) was used to select 3160 hospitalized patients with a known level of uric acid (UA) who were discharged in a stable condition. Hyperuricemia was defined as UA ≥500 μmoL/L and/or allopurinol treatment at admission. The patients were classified into three groups: without hyperuricemia, with treated hyperuricemia, and with untreated hyperuricemia at discharge. Two- and five-year all-cause mortality were defined as endpoints. Patients without hyperuricemia, unlike those with hyperuricemia, had a higher left ventricular ejection fraction, a better renal function, and higher hemoglobin levels, had less frequently diabetes mellitus and atrial fibrillation, and showed better tolerance to treatment with angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors/angiotensin receptor blockers and/or beta-blockers. RESULTS: In a primary analysis, the patients without hyperuricemia had the highest survival rate. After using the propensity score to set up comparable groups, the patients without hyperuricemia had a similar 5-year survival rate as those with untreated hyperuricemia (42.0% vs 39.7%, P = 0.362) whereas those with treated hyperuricemia had a poorer prognosis (32.4% survival rate, P = 0.006 vs non-hyperuricemia group and P = 0.073 vs untreated group). CONCLUSION: Hyperuricemia was associated with an unfavorable cardiovascular risk profile in HF patients. Treatment with low doses of allopurinol did not improve the prognosis of HF patients.

1st Department of Internal Medicine Cardiology and Angiology St Anne's University Hospital Brno Brno Czech Republic

2nd Department of Internal Medicine Department of Cardiology and Angiology 1st Faculty of Medicine of the Charles University Prague and General University Hospital Prague Czech Republic

2nd Department of Internal Medicine St Anne's University Hospital Brno Brno Czech Republic

Department of Cardiology Hospital Na Homolce Prague Czech Republic

Department of Cardiology Institute of Clinical and Experimental Medicine Prague Czech Republic

Department of Cardiology Tomas Bata Regional Hospital Zlin Czech Republic

Department of Internal Medicine and Cardiology University Hospital Brno Brno Czech Republic

Department of Internal Medicine Hospital Frydek Mistek Frydek Mistek Czech Republic

Department of Internal Medicine Hospital Havlickuv Brod Havlickuv Brod Czech Republic

Department of Internal Medicine Hospital Znojmo Znojmo Czech Republic

Department of Internal Medicine Military Hospital Brno Brno Czech Republic

Department of Internal Medicine University Hospital Olomouc Olomouc Czech Republic

Faculty of Medicine Masaryk University Brno Czech Republic

Institute of Biostatistics and Analyses Faculty of Medicine Masaryk University Brno Czech Republic

University Hospital Kralovske Vinohrady and the 3rd Faculty of Medicine of the Charles University Prague Czech Republic

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