Objectives To investigate the relationship between serum uric acid (SUA) and atrial fibrillation (AF) in essential hypertension (EH) patients.

Methods The 684 hospitalisation EH patients were divided into EH without AF group (n = 633) and EH with AF group (n = 51) according to AF criteria, general information, clinical date and echocardiography were compared between two groups; The patients were divided into EH without hyperuricemia group (n = 413) and EH with hyperuricemia group (n = 271) according to hyperuricemia criteria; Further, the patients were classified into four quartile groups according to SUA level, comparison the incidence of atrial fibrillation among the groups.

Results SUA, age, left atrial diameter (LAD), left ventricular end diastolic diameter (LVEDD) and left ventricular mass index (LVMI) were greater in EH with AF group than that in EH without AF group (P < 0.05), while left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and Total cholesterol (TC) were lower (P < 0.01). After adjustment for LAD, LVEDD, LVMI, LVEF, TC, SUA and age logistic regression analysis showed that only age (OR: 1.054; 95% CI: 1.019-1.090, p = 0.002), LAD (OR: 1.173; 95% CI: 1.114-1.235; p < 0.001) and LVEF (OR: 0.942; 95% CI: 0.914-0.971; p < 0.001) were independently associated with AF, while SUA was not independently associated with AF in EH patients. No difference of the incidence of AF was found between EH with hyperuricemia group and EH without hyperuricemia group (P = 0.406). And the result is same among the four quartile groups (P = 0.062).

Conclusions The level of SUA is not independently associated with AF in patients with EH, while age, LAD and LVEF are independently associated with AF in patients with EH.