Revision of serum ALT upper limits of normal facilitates assessment of mild liver injury in obese children with non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease

Background The serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) level is a critical parameter for evaluating liver injury in non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). However, the currently accepted upper limits of normal (ULN) for serum ALT (ULN‐ALT) are debated, as they may be excessively high. Methods A tot...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of clinical laboratory analysis 2020-07, Vol.34 (7), p.e23285-n/a
Main Authors: Lu, Yutian, Wang, Qiongdan, Yu, Lisha, Yin, XueRui, Yang, Huijie, Xu, Xi, Xia, Ying, Luo, Yue, Peng, Ying, Yu, Qigui, Chen, Zhanguo, Yu, Jian, Lai, Meimei, Wu, Nan, Pan, Xiao‐Ben, Zheng, Xiaoqun
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age
Alanine
alanine aminotransferase
Alanine transaminase
Biopsy
Body mass index
Body weight
Boys
Children
Children & youth
Ethics
Fatty liver
Girls
Health care
Hepatitis
Hospitals
Liver diseases
non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease
Obesity
Overweight
Ultrasonic imaging
Ultrasound
upper limit of normal
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Summary:Background The serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) level is a critical parameter for evaluating liver injury in non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). However, the currently accepted upper limits of normal (ULN) for serum ALT (ULN‐ALT) are debated, as they may be excessively high. Methods A total of 1638 children aged 6‐16 years, comprising 507 children with normal BMI (500 healthy children and 7 children with NAFLD), 199 overweight children, and 932 obese children, were included in the analysis. We re‐evaluated the ULN‐ALT in 500 healthy Chinese children using the 95th percentiles of serum ALT levels as revised ULN‐ALT. Fatty liver was identified by ultrasound examination. Results Significant positive correlations between serum ALT levels and body mass index (BMI) were detected in overweight boys (r = .399, P 
ISSN:0887-8013
1098-2825
DOI:10.1002/jcla.23285