Detailed Distribution of Liver Enzymes according to Gender, Age, and Body Mass Index in Health Check-up Subjects

Abstract

Background/Aims: The aim of this study was to examine the distribution of range of liver enzymes according to age and BMI in each gender using large-scale data. Methods: Data were gathered from 65,715 subjects who underwent a routine health check-up and did not have HBsAg and anti-HCV. Boxplot analysis was used to examine the distribution of range of liver enzymes according to age and BMI in each gender. Multivariate linear regression analysis was performed for assessment of the association of liver enzymes with age and BMI, and to determine whether the range of liver enzymes was affected by risk factors for metabolic syndrome in each gender. Results: ALT, AST, and GGT levels showed significant association with BMI in both male and female after adjusting for age. The range of ALT, AST, and GGT levels varied more widely according to the increase in BMI in males than in females, and this finding was more prominent in younger subjects than in older subjects. All risk factors for metabolic syndrome were shown to affect liver enzyme levels in male subjects. However, although most risk factors for metabolic syndrome affected liver enzyme levels, there might be weak or no effect of fasting hyperglycemia on AST, and low serum HDL-cholesterol level on GGT in female subjects. Conclusions: Age, BMI, and other risk factors for metabolic syndrome had a significant effect on the distribution of range of liver enzymes in each gender, even in this study conducted from Korean health checkup subjects. (Korean J Gastroenterol 2014;64:213-223)