Increased γ-glutamyltransferase and decreased total bilirubin are associated with metabolic syndrome in Korean postmenopausal women.
BACKGROUND
The objective of this study was to determine if there is an association between serum hepatic markers and the metabolic syndrome in postmenopausal women.


METHODS
This study involved 1229 postmenopausal women aged 44-85 years, who visited the Center for Health Promotion for a health check-up. We excluded subjects from the analysis if they had a daily alcohol consumption of more than 1.5 drinks (alcohol consumption ≥20 g/day) or had chronic viral hepatitis. We also excluded subjects who had abnormal hepatic function, as defined by serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST) or alanine aminotransferase (ALT) >100 IU/L, serum γ-glutamyltransferase (GGT) >100 IU/L, or serum total bilirubin concentrations >2 mg/dL.


RESULTS
Serum ALT and GGT concentrations increased in proportion to the number of elements of the metabolic syndrome (p<0.01). However, total bilirubin concentrations decreased (p=0.01). After adjusting for age, body mass index, and the presence of fatty liver in the patients with metabolic syndrome, the odds ratios (95% confidence interval) were 1.38 (0.89-2.15) for log (ALT), 1.69 (1.30-2.20) for log (GGT), and 0.53 (0.33-0.86) for log (total bilirubin).


CONCLUSIONS
We found that an increase in GGT and a decrease in total bilirubin was associated with metabolic syndrome in postmenopausal women. Hepatic enzymes could be proposed as simple clinical metabolic markers that identify the metabolic syndrome.
Kim
Sang-Hwan
SH
Department of Family Medicine, Myongji Hospital, Kwandong University College of Medicine, Gyeonggi-do, Korea.
Lee
Ji-Won
JW
Im
Jee-Aee
JA
Hwang
Hee-Jin
HJ
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001663:Bilirubin / Q000097:blood*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000201:enzymology / Q000378:metabolism; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000097:blood* / Q000201:enzymology; D008875:Middle Aged; D017698:Postmenopause / Q000097:blood*; D056910:Republic of Korea; D012307:Risk Factors; D005723:gamma-Glutamyltransferase / Q000097:blood*
D015415:Biomarkers; D005723:gamma-Glutamyltransferase; D001663:Bilirubin