The upper limit of normal for ALT in males according to AASLD guideline.

Abstract

Dear Editor, I read with great interest the editorial paper by Oh and Sinn [1] entitled “Is liver biopsy mandatory to identify immunetolerant phase of chronic hepatitis B?” published online ahead of print. In their paper, Oh and Sinn [1] suggested that the status of patients presumed to be in the immune-tolerant phase without histological information should be carefully evaluated. I would like to draw attention to the following printing error related to the normal serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels according to the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease (AASLD) guidelines. The recommended normal serum ALT level for males was incorrectly written as “<33 U/L” in both the text and Table 1. However, according to the AASLD 2018 hepatitis B guidance [2], the upper limit of normal for ALT in males is 35 U/L. I believe that correcting this printing error will prevent any possible confusion in daily practice guiding management decisions.