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Prevalence and predictors of alanine aminotransferase elevation among normal weight, overweight and obese youth in M exico
Author(s) -
Purcell Maura,
Flores Yvonne N,
Zhang ZuoFeng,
DenovaGutiérrez Edgar,
Salmeron Jorge
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of digestive diseases
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.684
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1751-2980
pISSN - 1751-2972
DOI - 10.1111/1751-2980.12072
Subject(s) - medicine , overweight , anthropometry , obesity , insulin resistance , metabolic syndrome , alanine aminotransferase , logistic regression , population , endocrinology , demography , gastroenterology , environmental health , sociology
Objective This study aimed to determine the prevalence of and risk factors associated with elevated alanine aminotransferase ( ALT ) levels among a sample of normal weight, overweight and obese youth from two urban populations in C entral M exico. Methods Baseline data from 1262 youth aged 8–19 years who participated in the M exican H ealth W orker C ohort S tudy from M arch 2004 to A pril 2006 were reviewed, including 680 girls and 582 boys, with a total of 83 participants with elevated ALT level (>40 U/L). Information was obtained from self‐administered questionnaires, anthropometric results and clinical measurements. Associations of interest were examined using multivariate logistic regression models. Results A total of 3.8% of girls and 9.8% of boys had elevated ALT levels. Elevated ALT was observed in 28.9% of the obese and 14.2% of the overweight participants. Metabolic syndrome ( MS ) occurred in 6.1% of the study population and those with MS had a high percentage of elevated ALT (14.5% of girls and 40.0% of boys, respectively). Abdominal obesity and insulin resistance were also associated with a greater risk of elevated ALT . Conclusions Obesity and certain metabolic risk factors are important predictors for elevated ALT . Screening for ALT levels in obese youth could help to identify those at risk and reduce the possibility of future liver diseases.