Serum uric acid, predicts heart failure in a large Italian cohort: search for a cut-off value the URic acid Right for heArt Health study.

Objective: To assess the prognostic cut-off values of serum uric acid (SUA) in predicting fatal and morbid heart failure in a large Italian cohort in the frame of the Working Group on Uric Acid and Cardiovascular Risk of the Italian Society of Hypertension.

Methods: The URic acid Right for heArt Health (URRAH) study is a nationwide, multicentre, cohort study involving data on individuals aged 18-95 years, recruited on a community basis from all regions of Italy under the patronage of the Italian Society of Hypertension with a mean follow-up period of 128 ± 65 months. Incident heart failure was defined on the basis of International Classification of Diseases Tenth Revision codes and double-checked with general practitioners and hospital files.