Maternal and Paternal Effects on Hyperuricemia: A Cross-Sectional Study from the 7th Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

Objective As heritability of hyperuricemia remains largely unexplained, we analyzed the association between parental and offspring hyperuricemia at the phenotype level. Methods This cross-sectional study included data on 2373 offspring and both-parent pairs from the 7th Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Logistic regression and generalized estimating equation analysis were used to evaluate the association between offspring and parental hyperuricemia adjusting for metabolic risk factors and alcohol intake. Results Both maternal and paternal hyperuricemia were associated with offspring hyperuricemia among teenagers, but from age of 20 years, a strong association was observed between offspring and paternal, rather than, maternal hyperuricemia, and this could not be explained by metabolic risk factors such as obesity. However, there was positive interaction between offspring alcohol intake and parental hyperuricemia, and there was a stronger association between terciles of offspring alcohol intake and hyperuricemia in the presence of parental hyperuricemia: T1 (reference), T2 OR 1.1 (0.3–4.6), and T3 OR 3.3 (1.4–7.9) (P for trend 0.017) vs. T1 (reference), T2 OR 0.7 (0.3–1.9), and T3 OR 1.1 (0.6–2.2) (P for trend 0.974). Conclusion These results suggest gene-environment interaction, especially with respect to alcohol intake for hyperuricemia in Korean adults.