Abstract
AIM: To investigate the relationship of the aspartate aminotransferase to alanine aminotransferase ratio (AST/ALT) and metabolic syndrome (MetS) in adolescents in northeast China. METHODS: A stratified cluster random sample of 935 students 11-16 years of age in a city in the northeast of China were enrolled in 2010-2011. Participants were given a physical examination and a laboratory evaluation, and 93 participants were followed-up after 5 years. RESULTS: AST/ALT was negatively correlated with waist circumference (WC), waist-to-hip ratio, body mass index (BMI), diastolic blood pressure, triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein, uric acid, fasting insulin, and insulin resistance. It was positively correlated with high-density lipoprotein. Multivariate logistic regression showed that the risk of MetS was 6.02 times greater in adolescents with the lowest, compared with the highest, AST/ALT. Central obesity was the MetS component most closely associated with low AST/ALT [odds ratio (OR) =5.13, 95% CI: 2.83, 9.28]. Five years later, baseline AST/ALT was negatively correlated with WC (r=-0.21, P=0.046), BMI (r=-0.29, P=0.005) and fasting plasma glucose (r=-0.25, P=0.017). CONCLUSION: In adolescents, AST/ALT was significantly associated with MetS and its components and predicted overweight/obesity in adulthood.