| ObjectiveCompare the plasma uric acid(UA) levels of patients with acute stage multiple sclerosis(MS),patients with acute stage neuromyelitis optica(NMO),and healthy people.Investigate the relationship between plasma UA levels and the course of MS and NMO.Approach the clinical significance of plasma UA levels for the diagnosis, differential diagnosis,and treatment of the two kinds of diseases above.Materials and methodsWe retrospectively studied the plasma UA levels of the patients with acute stage MS or acute stage NMO who were admitted in the department of neurology,the 2nd Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine,from January 2005 to January 2009,and healthy people who received medical examination in the international center for health maintenance in this hospital,from January 2007 to January 2009.All the objects were separated into three groups:Group 1,40 patients with acute stage MS including 15 males,25 females,aged from 15 to 74,the course of disease varies from 1 month to 168 months.The mean age of this group is 39.83±13.85 years old;the mean course of disease is 42.73±44.83 months.All patients in this group were made final diagnosis of MS according to the McDonald's diagnostic criteria revised in 2005,and were all relapsing-remitting types.Group 2,20 patients with acute stage NMO including 5 males,15 females,aged from 18 to 61,the course of disease varies from 0.25 month to 156 months.The mean age of this group is 42.05±12.36 years old;the mean course of disease is 35.74±59.79 months.All patients in this group were made final diagnosis of NMO according to the Wingerchuk's diagnostic criteria in 2006.All patients above were collected after exclusion of gout and any other diseases which could remarkably affect plasma UA levels.Group 3,40 healthy people as control group,including 16 males,24 females,aged from 23 to 72, the mean age of which is 42.05±12.36 years old.The control group was collected after exclusion of gout and any other diseases which could remarkably affect plasma UA levels too.The blood samples of group 1 and group 2 were collected on an empty stomach on the morning of the day after hospitalization.The blood samples of group 3 were collected on an empty stomach in the morning too.Uric acid concentration was measured by the direct enzymatic method.All statistical analyses were performed using the Statistical Program for Social Sciences(SPSS) statistical software(version 15.0).The effect of age and gender on serum UA levels of different groups were analyzed by independent sample T test and x~2 analysis.All data in this study are presented as mean±SD.Statistical significance was set at P＜0.05.The comparison between serum UA levels of each two groups was performed using independent sample T analysis.The relationship between plasma UA levels and the course of MS and NMO were studied with scatter plot and Pearson correlation coefficient.ResultsThe effect of age and gender on plasma UA levels of different groups were analyzed, and the differences were not statistically significant between each two groups(P＞0.05). The mean plasma UA levels of group 1(MS patients) was 3.95±1.12mg/dl,lower than that of group 3(healthy control),4.93±1.19mg/dl,with statistical significance(P＜0.01).The mean plasma UA levels of group 2(NMO patients) was 3.50±0.85mg/dl,lower than that of group 3(healthy control),4.93±1.19mg/dl,with statistical significance(P＜0.01).The mean plasma UA levels of group 1(3.95±1.12mg/dl) and group 2(3.50±0.85mg/dl) had no significant difference(P＞0.05). Scatter plot analysis suggested there was no conspicuous dependability between plasma UA levels and the course of disease of MS.The Pearson correlation coefficient was-0.152(P＞0.05).Scatter plot analysis suggested there was no conspicuous dependability between plasma UA levels and the course of disease of NMO either.The Pearson correlation coefficient was -0.181(P＞0.05)ConclusionThe plasma UA levels of MS and NMO patients are obviously lower than that of healthy people.However there is no significant difference between the plasma UA levels of the two diseases.And there is no conspicuous dependability between plasma UA levels and the course of the two diseases. |
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