Objective  To investigate the incidence and influencing factors of hyperuricemia (HUA) among elderly physical examinees from a community of Shanghai city and to provide evidences for community-based control of HUA risk factors of and management of HUA-related chronic diseases.

  Methods  With cluster sampling, we recruited 6 673 elderly residents (60 years and above) with normal serum uric acid and without gout history from routine physical examinees at a community health service center in Shanghai city during March – May 2018 and conducted a one-year follow-up study among the participants. Cox stepwise regression model was applied to explore influencing factors of HUA incidence.

  Results  The follow-up was completed in 84.64% (5 648) of all the participants, with a total of 6 384.18 person-years of follow-up and a median of 1.12 years of follow-up for each participant. For the 5 617 participants with valid information during the follow up period, the HUA incidence density (1/1 000 person-years) was 63.44 (52.34 for the males and 72.15 for the females); the crude cumulative incidence rate of HUA were 7.21% (5.95% for the males and 8.20% for the females) and the standard cumulative incidence rate of HUA and 7.58% (6.00% for the males and 8.98% for the females), respectively. Multivariate Cox stepwise regression model analysis showed that hypertension, central obesity, diabetes mellitus, chronic kidney disease, and coronary heart disease were risk factors for HUA incidence; while with an education of middle school and above was a protective factor against HUA incidence among the community elderly physical examinees.

  Conclusion  The HUA incidence rate was relatively high and correlated with central obesity and several chronic diseases among elderly physical examinees in a community of Shanghai city. The results suggest that intervention on risk factors of HUA needs to be promoted among community populations.