Sex-Specific Association Between Serum Uric Acid and Elevated Alanine Aminotransferase in a Military Cohort: The CHIEF Study

Abstract

Aim: The study was conducted in order to examine the sex-specific association of serum uric acid (SUA) levels with elevated serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) in a Taiwanese military cohort.

Methods: We made a cross-sectional examination of the sex-specific relationship using 6728 men and 766 women, aged 18-50 years from a large military cohort in Taiwan. SUA levels within the reference range (<7.0 mg/dL for men and <5.7 mg/dL for women respectively) were divided into quartiles and SUA levels greater than the upper reference limits were defined as hyperuricemia. Elevated ALT levels were defined as ≥40 U/L. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the association between each SUA category and elevated ALT levels in men and women, respectively.

Results: The prevalence of hyperuricemia and elevated ALT in men were 18.7% and 12.7%, respectively, and in women were 3.3% and 2.1%, respectively. As compared with the lowest SUA quartile, hyperuricemia was associated with elevated ALT in men (odds ratios (OR): 1.62, 95% confidence intervals (CI): 1.19-2.20) after controlling for age, service specialty, body mass index, metabolic syndrome components, current cigarette smoking, alcohol intake status, and weekly exercise times, but the associations for the other SUA quartiles were null. By contrast, the associations of hyperuricemia (OR: 0.81, 95% CI: 0.10-6.64) and the other SUA quartiles with elevated ALT were null in women.

Conclusion: Our findings suggest that the relationship between each SUA level and elevated ALT may differ by sex among military young adults. The mechanism for the sex difference requires further investigations.

Keywords: Alanine aminotransferase; aminocarbonyl radicals; hyperuricemia; military cohort; serum uric acid; sex difference..