A new study has found that even people with normal body weight face a higher risk of asymptomatic hyperuricemia if they have abdominal obesity.
A research team led by Professor Cho Hyun of the Department of Family Medicine at Soonchunhyang University Seoul Hospital analyzed the association between normal-weight abdominal obesity and asymptomatic hyperuricemia among 14,501 adults aged 20 and older who visited the hospital's health screening center in 2021. The team announced the findings on June 30.
Hyperuricemia is a condition in which blood uric acid levels remain at or above 7 mg/dL due to abnormal overproduction or impaired metabolism of uric acid. While not all cases of hyperuricemia progress to gout, it is known as the greatest risk factor for the disease. Caution is warranted because hyperuricemia has been linked to various metabolic diseases including cardiovascular disease, even in the absence of symptoms such as joint pain typically seen in gout patients.
The researchers divided the subjects by sex, then classified them into four groups based on body mass index (BMI) and waist-to-height ratio: a normal-weight group, a normal-weight abdominal obesity group, an obese group, and an obese abdominal obesity group. The analysis showed that regardless of sex, the prevalence of asymptomatic hyperuricemia was significantly higher in groups with abdominal obesity than in the normal-weight group. This trend persisted even after adjusting for multiple confounding factors.
"Even at a normal weight, the risk of hyperuricemia should not be overlooked when abdominal obesity is present," Professor Cho said. "We need to move beyond the conventional approach of assessing health based solely on weight and adopt a method that also considers body fat distribution, such as abdominal obesity."
The study was published in the November 2025 issue of the international journal BMC Public Health.
