Journal of Environment and Health Science Journal of Environment and Health Science Journal of Environment and Health Science Journal of Environment and Health Science 2378-6841Ommega Online PublishersNew Jersey, USA156110.15436/2378-6841.18.1561Research ArticleAlanine Aminotransferase levels are Associated with Cardiometabolic Risk Markers in Hispanic/Latino Farmworkers Alanine Aminotransferase levels are Associated with Cardiometabolic Risk Markers in Hispanic/Latino Farmworkers YanbinDong1Georgia Prevention Institute Medical College of Georgia Augusta University Building HS-1640 Augusta 30912 GA USA2College of Nursing Augusta University Augusta GA USA3Respiratory Therapy Program Augusta University Augusta GA USAEditor* E-mail: ydong@augusta.edu
The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
20182802201841JEHS-17-RA-156127052017280520172018Creative Commons Attribution LicenseThis is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. nbsp Introduction Cardiovascular diseases CVD are major causes of mortality among U S Hispanic Latino farmworkers Since Hispanics Latinos in general are twice as likely as non-Hispanic whites to have elevated alanine aminotransferase ALT a biomarker of suspected nonalcoholic fatty liver disease it is vital to understand the CVD risk factor-ALT relationship in Hispanic Latino farmworkers This study investigated the elevated ALT status in Hispanic Latino farmworkers and the relationships between ALT and CVD risk markers Methods In 210 Hispanic Latino farmworkers 48 female aged 35 2 plusmn 9 2 years fasting blood samples were measured for serum ALT and elevated ALT was defined by gt 43 U L CVD risk markers were measured with standard methods and defined according to the definitions of metabolic syndrome Results The overall prevalence for elevated ALT was 12 4 Significant linear upward trends across tertiles of serum ALT were observed for body mass index waist circumference fasting glucose and triglycerides after adjusting for age and sex all P-trend lt 0 05 Multinomial logistic regression adjusting for age and sex revealed that compared to individuals with the lowest ALT levels tertile1 the adjusted odds ratios for overweight obesity prediabetes elevated triglycerides and metabolic syndrome were 3 2 95 CI 1 2-8 6 3 7 95 CI 1 6-8 4 3 0 95 CI 1 5-6 2 and 2 7 95 CI 1 3-5 6 respectively for those in the highest ALT levels tertile 3 No association was found between serum ALT and blood pressure or HDL-cholesterol Conclusions Our findings provide evidence for the high prevalence of elevated ALT levels in Hispanic Latino farmworkers and suggest that increased serum ALT is associated with multiple markers of CVD risk 10