The Relationship Between Aspartate Aminotransferase To Alanine Aminotransferase Ratio And Metabolic Syndrome In Adolescents In Northeast China

Abstract

Aim

To investigate the relationship of the aspartate aminotransferase to alanine aminotransferase ratio (AST/ALT) and metabolic syndrome (MetS) in adolescents in northeast China.

Methods

A stratified cluster random sample of 935 students 11–16 years of age in a city in the northeast of China were enrolled in 2010–2011. Participants were given a physical examination and a laboratory evaluation, and 93 participants were followed-up after 5 years.

Results

AST/ALT was negatively correlated with waist circumference (WC), waist-to-hip ratio, body mass index (BMI), diastolic blood pressure, triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein, uric acid, fasting insulin, and insulin resistance. It was positively correlated with high-density lipoprotein. Multivariate logistic regression showed that the risk of MetS was 6.02 times greater in adolescents with the lowest, compared with the highest, AST/ALT. Central obesity was the MetS component most closely associated with low AST/ALT [odds ratio (OR) =5.13, 95% CI: 2.83, 9.28]. Five years later, baseline AST/ALT was negatively correlated with WC (r=−0.21, P=0.046), BMI (r=−0.29, P=0.005) and fasting plasma glucose (r=−0.25, P=0.017).

Conclusion

In adolescents, AST/ALT was significantly associated with MetS and its components and predicted overweight/obesity in adulthood.

Keywords:

• metabolic syndrome
• aspartate aminotransferase
• alanine aminotransferase
• adolescents

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to all children and their parents for participating in this study. This work was supported by Fund for young scientists of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 81600644).

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.