Abnormal liver function test predicts type 2 diabetes: a community-based prospective study

Abstract

Increased activities of liver enzymes such as aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and -glutamyltranspeptidase (GGT) are indicators of hepatocellular injury. Increased activity of these markers is associated with insulin resistance (1), metabolic syndrome, and type 2 diabetes (2–9). However, most of these studies were performed in Western countries (2– 5,7,9), and the two studies from Japan and Korea were not community based (6,8). In this prospective communitybased study, we evaluated the relationships between markers of liver function and the onset of type 2 diabetes after adjusting for potential risk factors including inflammatory markers.