Relationship of serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) to body mass index (BMI) in blood donors: the need to correct ALT for BMI in blood donor screening

摘要

SUMMARY.A study was carried out on 1,028 voluntary blood donors to see how body mass index (BMI) correlated with the serum alanine amino transferase (ALT) activity. The mean ALT (U/1) values were 19.35, 27.63, 40.79 and 54.41 in the four BMI categories of ≤20, 20.1–25, 25.1–30 and>30, respectively. This study showed that the mean serum ALT level of obese subjects (BMI>30kg/m2), compared with the two categories of normal subjects (i.e. BMI ≤ 20 and BMI = 20.1–25 kg/m2), was increased by 2.8 and 1.96 times, respectively. Compared with the BMI group ≤ 20, there was a gradual per cent increase in the mean serum ALT in the three different BMI groups: 20.1–25 (+133%), 25.1–30 (+196%) and>30 kg/m2(+280%). This indicates the need to correct ALT values for BMI for blood donor screening, instead of using ac