title: Association of serum gamma-glutamyltransferase and premature coronary artery disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Serum gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) has been introduced as a predictive factor for cardiovascular disease. In this study, we investigated the association of serum GGT and premature coronary artery disease (CAD) in candidates for coronary angiography.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this cross-sectional study, we enrolled male subjects aged ≤45 years and female subjects ≤55 years who were candidates for elective coronary angiography due to typical chest pain or a positive non-invasive test. Baseline characteristics were recorded for all the participants and serum levels of blood glucose, lipid profile and GGT were measured. Patients were divided into CAD and non-CAD groups based on angiography for further comparisons.
  
  
  RESULTS
  From a total of 367 patients (age 45.1 ± 6.1 years, 161 males [43.9%]), 176 (47.9%) patients had premature CAD. A high level of GGT was significantly associated with the presence of CAD (p < 0.001). A 10-unit increase in GGT could strongly predict the presence of premature coronary artery disease (OR: 13.34, 95% CI: 7.19-24.78; p < 0.001) after adjustment for confounders. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for GGT was 80.9% (range 76.5-85.3) and the sensitivity and specificity of GGT at a cut-point of 22.5 IU/l was 80.1% and 70.2%, respectively. Diagnostic accuracy of GGT was 74.9%. The positive predictive value and negative predictive value for GGT was 71.3 and 79.3, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We observed that GGT levels in patients with typical chest pain or positive non-invasive tests could predict the presence of premature CAD in young patients.
authors.affiliation: Tehran Heart Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sheikh
authors.affiliation: Tehran Heart Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tajdini
authors.affiliation: Tehran Heart Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.|Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti university of Medical sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shafiee
authors.affiliation: Tehran Heart Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sotoudeh Anvari
authors.affiliation: Tehran Heart Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jalali
authors.affiliation: Tehran Heart Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Poorhosseini
authors.affiliation: Tehran Heart Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. aamirzadegan@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Amirzadegan
keywords: Acute coronary syndrome; Coronary angiography; Gamma-glutamyltransferase; Premature coronary artery disease