Upper limits of normal for serum alanine aminotransferase levels in Chinese Han population.
<h4>Background and objectives</h4>Serum 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 t...
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doaj-f0949d104e79420993b3605baaa242112021-03-04T00:21:37ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032012-01-0179e4373610.1371/journal.pone.0043736Upper limits of normal for serum alanine aminotransferase levels in Chinese Han population.Ming-Hua ZhengKe-Qing ShiYu-Chen FanWen-Yue LiuXian-Feng LinLing-Fei LiYong-Ping Chen<h4>Background and objectives</h4>Serum 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.<h4>Methods</h4>53037 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.<h4>Results</h4>The 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.<h4>Conclusions</h4>Our 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.<h4>Trial registration</h4>ChiCTR.org ChiCTR-OCS-11001173.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/22962588/?tool=EBI |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Ming-Hua Zheng Ke-Qing Shi Yu-Chen Fan Wen-Yue Liu Xian-Feng Lin Ling-Fei Li Yong-Ping Chen |
spellingShingle |
Ming-Hua Zheng Ke-Qing Shi Yu-Chen Fan Wen-Yue Liu Xian-Feng Lin Ling-Fei Li Yong-Ping Chen Upper limits of normal for serum alanine aminotransferase levels in Chinese Han population. PLoS ONE |
author_facet |
Ming-Hua Zheng Ke-Qing Shi Yu-Chen Fan Wen-Yue Liu Xian-Feng Lin Ling-Fei Li Yong-Ping Chen |
author_sort |
Ming-Hua Zheng |
title |
Upper limits of normal for serum alanine aminotransferase levels in Chinese Han population. |
title_short |
Upper limits of normal for serum alanine aminotransferase levels in Chinese Han population. |
title_full |
Upper limits of normal for serum alanine aminotransferase levels in Chinese Han population. |
title_fullStr |
Upper limits of normal for serum alanine aminotransferase levels in Chinese Han population. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Upper limits of normal for serum alanine aminotransferase levels in Chinese Han population. |
title_sort |
upper limits of normal for serum alanine aminotransferase levels in chinese han population. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
series |
PLoS ONE |
issn |
1932-6203 |
publishDate |
2012-01-01 |
description |
<h4>Background and objectives</h4>Serum 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.<h4>Methods</h4>53037 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.<h4>Results</h4>The 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.<h4>Conclusions</h4>Our 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.<h4>Trial registration</h4>ChiCTR.org ChiCTR-OCS-11001173. |
url |
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/22962588/?tool=EBI |
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