title: Evaluation of liver enzyme levels and identification of asymptomatic liver disease patients in primary care.
abstract: The evaluation of serum liver enzyme levels is the most used surrogate marker of liver injury in clinical practice. The prevalence and association of abnormal enzyme values with hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections, and with other major causes of liver damage (obesity, diabetes, dyslipidemia, and alcohol abuse) were evaluated in individuals attending the surgeries of 14 general practitioners (GPs) working in Messina. Alanine-amino-transferase, aspartate-amino-transferase, and gamma-glutamyl-transpeptidase measurements were measured in 7816 individuals consecutively attending the GP surgeries between January 1, 2011 and June 30, 2012. Five-thousand-eight-hundred-six subjects (74.3 %) had the tests performed, and 1189 of them (20.5 %) showed increased liver enzyme levels. Sixty-nine of these 1189 individuals (5.8 %) were HCV positive and 12 HBV positive (1 %), 755 (63.5 %) were overweight or obese, 288 (24.2 %) had diabetes, and 351 (29.5 %) had dyslipidemia; 262 (22 %) drank >2 alcoholic units/day. Overall, 57 % of individuals with abnormal liver enzymes had multiple possible causes of liver disease, 28 % one cause, and 15 % no apparent cause. In conclusion, this study shows that 1/5 of individuals attending GP surgeries have altered liver biochemistry and that overweight and metabolic disorders have become the major causes of liver damage even in South Italy, where HBV and HCV were endemic in the past century. Notably, many HCV and HBV patients are still unaware of their infected status, and GPs are essential for their timely identification.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital of Messina, Via Consolare Valeria, 1, 98124, Messina, Italy. icacciola@unime.it.
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Cacciola
authors.affiliation: SIMG-Messina Hypertransaminasemia Study Group, Messina, Italy.
authors.forename: Riccardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Scoglio
authors.affiliation: SEFISAST Department, University of Messina, Messina, Italy.
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alibrandi
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital of Messina, Via Consolare Valeria, 1, 98124, Messina, Italy.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Squadrito
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital of Messina, Via Consolare Valeria, 1, 98124, Messina, Italy. raimondo@unime.it.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Raimondo
mesh_terms: D000410:Alanine Transaminase / Q000097:blood*; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases / Q000097:blood; D058070:Asymptomatic Diseases; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D004796:Clinical Enzyme Tests; D005260:Female; D058005:General Practitioners; D006525:Hepatitis, Viral, Human / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D005723:gamma-Glutamyltransferase / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D005723:gamma-Glutamyltransferase; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases; D000410:Alanine Transaminase
keywords: Diabetes; Dyslipidemia; General practitioner; Hypertransaminasemia; Obesity; Viral hepatitis