Association between the SUA/Scr ratio and carotid plaque in patients with ischemic stroke based on gender and age: a retrospective study

To explore the association between carotid plaques (CAPs) and serum uric acid/serum creatinine (SUA/Scr) ratio in ischemic stroke patients. A total of 12,072 patients with ischemic stroke were assigned into three groups based on the SUA/Scr tertiles: Q1 (SUA/Scr <3.843), Q2 (3.843 ≤ SUA/Scr ≤4.979), and Q3 (SUA/Scr >4.979). The 95% confidence intervals (CI) and ORs of SUA/Scr and CAPs were determined through logistic regression. Data were considered statistically at a p < 0.05, after FDR correction. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to evaluate the predictive value SUA/Scr for CAPs. The SUA/Scr ratio was significantly associated with CAPs （OR:1.060;95%CI1.024-1.098). In the analysis of SUA/Scr as a categorical variable, regression analysis revealed that participants in the Q3 group were more likely to develop CAPs than those in the Q1 group （OR:1.175;95%CI1.043-1.324）. The relationship between SUA/Scr and CAPs persisted in male respondents even after multivariate correction (OR:1.119; 95%CI1.065-1.177). However, no association was found between the two variables in female subjects (OR:1.003; 95%CI0.954-1.055). SUA/Scr was significantly associated with CAPs in young or middle-aged (<60 years) patients after correcting for variables stratified by age (OR:1.061; 95%CI1.009-1.115). However, no correlation was found between the two in older patients (≥60 years) (OR: 0.972; 95%CI0.929-1.018). SUA/Scr is associated with CAPs, especially in young and middle-aged men.