Relationship between aspartate aminotransferase to alanine aminotransferase ratio and metabolic syndrome in college students

Objective To evaluate the relationship between aspartate aminotransferase to alanine aminotransferase ratio (AST/ALT ratio) and metabolic syndrome in college students. Methods Anthropometric and metabolic measurements including fasting plasma glucose (FPG), triglyceride (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), true insulin (TI), (AST and ALT) were assessed in a cross-sectional study of 425 college students aged 19 to 24 years old (male 216, female 209) in 2009.The participants were then assigned to the AST/ALT ratio <1 group or the AST/ALT ratio≥1 group.Metabolic syndrome was defined as Adult Treatment Panel Ⅲ criteria. Results AST/ALT ratio<1 was found in 146 subjects (34.4%). After adjustment for age and sex, AST/ALT ratio showed a positive correlation with HDL-C (r=0.125) and negative correlations with body mass index (BMI, r=-0.281), waist circumtance (WC, r=-0.264), TG (r=-0.134), TI (r=-0.118) and HOMA-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR, r=-0.121) (all P<0.05). The prevalence of metabolic syndrome was 2.1% and was similar in males and females (2.3% vs. 1.9%, P=0.774). Those with AST/ALT ratio<1 had a significantly higher prevalence of metabolic syndrome (4.8% vs. 0.7%, P=0.016). After adjustment for age, gender and BMI, the prevalence of metabolic syndrome of subjects with AST/ALT ratio<1 was nearly 7 (95% CI: 1.430 to 34.019, P=0.016) times of those with AST/ALT ratio≥1. Conclusion AST/ALT ratio may be related with metabolic syndrome in college students. Key words: Metabolic syndrome X; Obesity; Insulin