 |
This prospective study Duk-Hee Lee et al was performed in order
to investigate the effect of baseline body mass index (BMI), BMI
changes, baseline alcohol consumption, and changes in alcohol
consumption on liver enzyme activity. The study population consisted
of 6846 male workers in a steel manufacturing company who had
undergone health examinations in 1994 and 1998.
Results The risk for elevated aspartate aminotransferase (AST)
and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) values over the four years
increased with weight gain, but not with alcohol consumption.
Compared with the subject BMI <20, the adjusted odds ratios (OR)
for those with baseline BMI 2021.9, 2224.9, 25 were 1.2, 1.6,
1.7 in AST and 1.4, 2.4, 2.8 in ALT, respectively. Compared with
subjects who either lost or maintained their weight, the adjusted
OR for men with slight, moderate, and heavy weight gain were 1.7,
2.6, 6.8 in AST and 2.4, 3.9, 11.3 in ALT, respectively. However
gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT) was associated with BMI changes
and baseline alcohol consumption, not with baseline BMI and changes
in alcohol consumption. Compared with subjects who lost or maintained
weight, the adjusted OR for men with slight, moderate, and heavy
weight gain were 2.4, 4.4 and 8.5, respectively. In comparison
with non-drinkers, the adjusted odds ratio for light, moderate
and heavy drinkers were 1.8, 2.1 and 5.8, respectively.
Conclusion These data suggest that body weight, rather than alcohol consumption,
may be the major factor in determining the serum level of liver
enzymes. Even when body weight was not generally considered to
be overweight, slight to moderate gains in weight were associated
with increases in serum liver enzymes.
Duk-Hee Leea, Myung-Hwa Hab and David C Christianic a Department
of Preventive Medicine, College of Medicine, Kosin University,
34 Amnam-Dong, Suh-Gu, Pusan, Korea, 602702. Email:ducky@ns.kosinmed.or.krb Health Care Center, Pohang Steel Company, Pohang, Korea.
c Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public
Health, Boston, MA, USA |
