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Upper limits of normal for serum alanine aminotransferase levels in Chinese Han population
- Source :
- PLoS ONE, Vol 7, Iss 9, p e43736 (2012), PLoS ONE
- Publication Year :
- 2012
- Publisher :
- Public Library of Science (PLoS), 2012.
-
Abstract
- Background and objectivesSerum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activity is the most common tool for the assessment of liver diseases. However, it is not clear whether the current normal ALT range really discriminate patients with or without liver diseases. The present study was to establish a new normal range of ALT and examine its ability to identify patients with hepatitis B or nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in Chinese Han population.Methods53037 adults were included in this study from January 1st 2008 to August 31st 2010. The 95th percentile of ALT in population with relative low risk factors for liver diseases was set as the new upper limits of normal ALT in gender-specific manner.ResultsThe 95(th) percentile levels at low risk factors for liver diseases were achieved at 35 U/L for men and 23 U/L for women. The concordance statistics for detection were 0.873 (95%CI: 0.865-0.881) for HBV and 0.932 (95%CI: 0.927-0.937) for NAFLD in men while 0.857 (95%CI: 0.850-0.864) for HBV and 0.909 (95%CI: 0.903-0.915) for NAFLD in women. The median sensitivity of the current used ALT upper limit (40 U/L) was 6.6% for HBV and 29.7% for NAFLD and median specificity was 98.7% for men and 99.4% for women. Using our new-derived thresholds, the sensitivities ranged from 35.3% to 61.1% and the specificities were 94.8% for men and 94.6% for women.ConclusionsOur results suggest that upper limits of ALT 35 U/L for men and 23 U/L for women in Chinese Han population. Re-consideration of normal limits of ALT should be recommended.Trial registrationChiCTR.org ChiCTR-OCS-11001173.
- Subjects :
- Male
Percentile
Alcoholic Liver Disease
Epidemiology
Gastroenterology and hepatology
Cross-sectional study
Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis
medicine.disease_cause
Gastroenterology
Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
Reference Values
Risk Factors
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease
Medicine
Prospective Studies
Epidemiological Methods
education.field_of_study
Multidisciplinary
biology
Fatty liver
Alanine Transaminase
Hepatitis B
Infectious hepatitis
Female
Research Article
Adult
China
Hepatitis B virus
medicine.medical_specialty
Clinical Research Design
Science
Population
Sensitivity and Specificity
Sex Factors
Internal medicine
Humans
education
Biology
Liver diseases
Population Biology
business.industry
medicine.disease
digestive system diseases
Fatty Liver
Biomarker Epidemiology
Cross-Sectional Studies
Alanine transaminase
biology.protein
business
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 19326203
- Volume :
- 7
- Issue :
- 9
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- PLoS ONE
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....92ecbb703af547b020797991ef0905ec