Abstract
Background; The prevalence of pediatric hyperuricemia is increasing worldwide. No other similar study was done in Anbar province previously.
Objective: This study was designed to show the prevalence of hyperuricemia among children from 6 to 16 years old in Ramadi teaching hospital for maternity and childhood, Anbar province, Iraq. Studying the relation of hyperuricemia with childhood obesity, in addition to its relation with gender, residency, and economic status of their families.
Material and Methods: Across sectional study was done for 6 months from the first of January 2021 to the end of June 2021, to determine the expected prevalence of hyperuricemia among a randomized sample of children of ages from 6-16 years with either gender. Weight and height were measured for all cases, a body mass index was calculated for each child for estimation of obesity. For all studied cases, other data was collected for socioeconomic status and residency. All cases were sent for serological calculation of uric acid levels.
Results: The total number of studied children was 520, the overall prevalence of hyperuricemia among these cases was (11.3%). The overweight's and obese children had a higher prevalence of hyperuricemia (29.3 %) compared with only (3.3%) among those who were not. Girls had more prevalence than boys with female to male ratio (2.2:1). Most of the cases were from middle-economic status families with a non-significant relation when compared with control, while it was more and significant among urban area residence.
Conclusions: A higher prevalence of hyperuricemia was found among obese children in Anbar province, and this requires a specific educational program given to the families in explaining the risk and how to deal with obesity.