The Association between Metabolic Syndrome and Elevated Alanine Aminotransferase Levels in an Indigenous Population in Northern Taiwan: A Community-Based and Cross-Sectional Study

Table 1

Study population characteristics according to the presence of MetS.

Variables	Total	Metabolic syndrome		value
		No	Yes
	(n = 454)	(n = 177)	(n = 277)
Age (year)	49.50 ± 16.01	43.83 ± 16.97	53.12 ± 14.26	<0.001
SBP (mmHg)	133.03 ± 21.26	123.45 ± 18.21	139.15 ± 20.84	<0.001
DBP (mmHg)	83.80 ± 13.85	78.82 ± 12.53	86.97 ± 13.74	<0.001
WC (cm)	88.62 ± 11.00	81.23 ± 9.08	93.37 ± 9.40	<0.001
ALT (U/L)^a	22.00 (16–32)	19.00 (15–26)	24.00 (17–36)	<0.001
FPG (mg/dL)^a	93.00 (86–104.25)	87.00 (83–92)	99.00 (90–117)	<0.001
HbA1c (%)^a	5.90 (5.6–6.2)	5.70 (5.5–5.9)	6.00 (5.7–6.5)	<0.001
HDL-C (mg/dL)	50.47 ± 13.05	56.40 ± 11.79	46.68 ± 12.41	<0.001
HS-CRP (mg/L)^a	1.48 (0.72–2.94)	0.88 (0.4–2.2)	1.90 (0.96–3.52)	<0.001
TC (mg/dL)	194.28 ± 39.79	184.14 ± 33.21	200.75 ± 42.27	<0.001
Total bilirubin (mg/dL)^a	0.50 (0.40–0.70)	0.50 (0.4–0.7)	0.50 (0.4–0.7)	0.24
TG (mg/dL)^a	114.00 (80–183)	85.00 (62.0–115.5)	143.00 (103.5–215.0)	<0.001
Uric acid (mg/dL)	6.36 ± 1.88	5.91 ± 1.78	6.65 ± 1.88	<0.001
Men, n (%)	215 (47.36%)	94 (53.11%)	121 (43.68%)	0.0498
ALT				0.001
≦36 U/L	368 (81.06%)	157 (88.70%)	211 (76.17%)
>36 U/L	86 (18.94%)	20 (11.30%)	66 (23.83%)
BMI				<0.001
<18.5	10 (2.21%)	8 (4.55%)	2 (0.72%)
18.5–24	152 (33.55%)	103 (58.52%)	49 (17.69%)
≧24	291 (64.24%)	65 (36.93%)	226 (81.59%)
HTN, n (%)	172 (38.05%)	35 (19.89%)	137 (49.64%)	<0.001
DM, n (%)	94 (20.70%)	5 (2.82%)	89 (32.13%)	<0.001
Hyperlipidemia, n (%)	362 (79.74%)	96 (54.24%)	266 (96.03%)	<0.001
Smoking, n (%)	43 (13.78%)	14 (12.28%)	29 (14.65%)	0.56
Alcohol drinking, n (%)	71 (22.61%)	22 (19.30%)	49 (24.50%)	0.29

Notes: clinical characteristics are presented as mean ± SD for continuous variables and n (%) for categorical variables. Variables with nonnormal distributions are log-transformed for analysis and shown as median (interquartile range). values were derived from the independent t-test for continuous variables and chi-square test for categorical variables. ^a is considered as log-transformed variables. SBP, systolic blood pressure; DBP, diastolic blood pressure; WC, waist circumference; ALT, alanine aminotransferase; FPG, fasting plasma glucose; HbA1c, glycated hemoglobin; HDL-C, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol; HS-CRP, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein; TC, total cholesterol; TG, triglyceride; BMI, body mass index; HTN, hypertension; DM, diabetes mellitus.