Serum Uric Acid as A Biomarker in Bipolar Disorder Type I, Current Episode Manic- Hospital Based Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Objective: To compare serum uric acid in bipolar disorder (BD) type I patients, current episode manic with healthy matched controls.
Study Design: Our study had a cross-sectional, case-control design.
Place and Duration of Study: This research was done at Rawal General & Dental Hospital which is the tertiary care teaching hospital of Rawal Medical & Dental College, Islamabad. The period of study was from 1/10/2023 to 31/03/2024 for a period of 6 months.
Materials and Methods: Thirty patients with BD suffering from manic episode according to DSM-5 criteria, along with 30 matched healthy controls were enlisted in the study. Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS) was administered to the patients to determine the severity of mania and serum uric acid was determined for both cases and healthy controls (HC). The data was analyzed with Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 22 (SPSS).
Results: Compared to HC (4.4 ± 0.9mg/dl) bipolar patients had elevated plasma uric acid levels (6.06 ± 1.48 ml/dl) [p = 0.018]. Age and gender were the two factors that could introduce bias, but after controlling for these, the results were still significant. In the cases YMRS was used to measure the severity of the manic episode, and serum uric acid levels did not have a correlation with this variable (P >0.683).
Conclusion: The level of serum uric acid was significantly higher in cases versus controls in the local population. These results were in line with international studies and pointed to aberrant purine nucleotide turnover in BD.