Background:
Elevated serum liver transaminases (AST and ALT), highly related to metabolic disorders, are paradoxically associated with lower risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and mortality. Blood pressure variability (BPV), a risk factor of CVD, has not been examined the relationship with serum liver transaminase.
Methods:
A prospective cohort of 1,112 military males, aged 32.2 years was collected in Taiwan. Serum AST and ALT were obtained from a 12 hour-fast blood sample of each participant. BPV was assessed by standard deviation (SD) and average real variability (ARV) of systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP and DBP), respectively across 4 visits during the study period (2012-14, 2014-15, 2015-16, and 2016-18). Multivariable linear regression analysis was used to determine the association adjusting for age, body mass index, SBP, DBP, lipid profiles, physical activity, alcohol and smoking status.
Results:
In the unadjusted model, serum ALT were positively correlated with SD
DBP
and ARV
DBP
(β (SE) =0.36 (0.16) and 0.24 (0.12), respectively), and so were AST (β= 0.19 (0.08) and 0.14 (0.06), respectively). However, all the associations were insignificant with adjustments. By contrast, the associations with systolic BPV were initially insignificant in the unadjusted model. With adjustments, serum ALT were negatively correlated with SD
SBP
and ARV
SBP
(β= -0.34 (0.16) and -0.24 (0.12), respectively) and so were AST (β= -0.14 (0.07) and -0.11 (0.06), respectively).
Conclusion:
Our findings suggest that liver transaminase levels were negatively correlated with long-term systolic BPV in young male adults, possibly accounting for the lower risk of CVD in previous studies.