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. 2016 Aug 24;13(9):841.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph13090841.

Association between Serum Uric Acid and Elevated Alanine Aminotransferase in the General Population

Shuang Chen  1 , Xiaofan Guo  2 , Shasha Yu  3 , Guozhe Sun  4 , Hongmei Yang  5 , Zhao Li  6 , Yingxian Sun  7
Affiliations

Association between Serum Uric Acid and Elevated Alanine Aminotransferase in the General Population

Shuang Chen et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Both the serum uric acid (SUA) level and elevated alanine aminotransferase (ALT) are related to metabolic syndrome. However, the association between SUA and elevated ALT has not been elucidated in the general population. The objective of this study was to investigate the association between SUA and elevated ALT in the general population of China;

Methods: A total of 11,572 adults (≥35 years of age) participated in this survey. Elevated ALT was defined as >40 U/L. SUA ≥ 7.0 mg/dL in males or ≥6.0 mg/dL in females was defined as hyperuricemia. SUA within the reference range was divided into quartiles, and its associations with elevated ALT were evaluated by logistic regressions;

Results: A total of 7.4% participants had elevated ALT. The prevalence of hyperuricemia was 14.9% in males and 7.3% in females. There was a significantly positive dose-response association between SUA levels and the prevalence of elevated ALT. After adjusting for potential confounders, a positive relationship for elevated ALT was observed in subjects with hyperuricemia (odds ratio [OR]: 2.032, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.443-2.861 for men; OR: 2.045, 95% CI: 1.221-3.425 for women, both p < 0.05). Within the reference range, the association between SUA and elevated ALT persisted in the fourth quartile (OR: 1.467, 95% CI: 1.063-2.025 for men; OR: 1.721, 95% CI: 1.146-2.585 for women, both p < 0.05);

Conclusions: Our results indicated that an increased SUA level, even within the reference range, was independently associated with elevated ALT in Chinese adults.

Keywords: alanine aminotransferase (ALT); hyperuricemia; serum alanine aminotransferase; serum uric acid.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The proportion of adults with elevated ALT categorized by the uric acid level in both genders.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Multivariate analysis of the independent association between serum uric acid and elevated serum ALT by gender (A) for men and (B) for women. The model is adjusted for the same variables as in model 2 in Table 3.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The discriminatory power of SUA in the prediction of elevated ALT. Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of SUA was used to identify subjects with elevated ALT according to sex.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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