The Differences in Transaminase Enzyme Levels among Children with Acute Diarrhea due to Rotavirus and Non-rotavirus

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Diarrhea is the particular disease that still affects children in Indonesia, with rotavirus being the most common etiology among children under 5 years old. Rotavirus and non-rotavirus diarrhea can spread to the extraintestinal and localized to the liver which causes liver cell damage, thus, the level of the glutamic oxaloacetic and glutamic pyruvic transaminase enzymes increases. AIM: The objective of the study was to prove that there are differences in serum levels of glutamic oxaloacetic and glutamic pyruvic transaminase in children with acute diarrhea due to rotavirus and non-rotavirus infection. METHODS: This study used a cross-sectional design, the research subjects were children aged 6 months old until 60 months old with acute diarrhea in Denpasar Public Health Center, Sanglah, and Wangaya General Hospital within the period of March 2018 until March 2021. Statistical analysis used the Mann–Whitney. RESULTS: A total of 70 subjects were analyzed in this study. There were 24.28% of subjects with rotavirus. Each group had nearly the same degree of severity of 29.4% for rotavirus and 30.2% for non-rotavirus, with a median of serum levels of glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (SGOT) 47 (19–261) and glutamic pyruvic transaminase (SGPT) 25 (7–217). The results of this study showed that the median difference in aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase levels was not significant in rotavirus and non-rotavirus diarrhea (SGOT 45 [16–168], 32 [11–261], p = 0.077; (SGPT 22 [14–91], 18 [5–217], p = 0.12). CONCLUSION: This study concluded that there is a higher median level of SGOT and SGPT in children with acute diarrhea due to rotavirus infection compared to non-rotavirus infection, although it is not statistically significant.