Abnormal Liver Function Test Predicts Type 2 Diabetes: a Community-Based Prospective Study
Response to Cho et al.
- Jee-Fu Huang, MD123,
- Chia-Yen Dai, MD34,
- Ming-Lung Yu, MD, PHD34,
- Ming-Yen Hsieh, MD3 and
- Wan-Long Chuang, MD, PHD34
- 1Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Municipal Hsiao-Kang Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
- 2Graduate Institute of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
- 3Hepatobiliary Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
- 4Faculty of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
- Corresponding author: Wang-Long Chuang, MD, PhD, Hepatobiliary Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, 100 Tzyou Rd., Kaohsiung City 807, Taiwan. E-mail: jf71218{at}gmail.com
We read with interest the article by Cho et al. (1), which demonstrated that an elevated level of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) was associated with risk of type 2 diabetes in their community-based study of 10,038 participants. Excluding diabetic individuals and those with hepatitis B (HBV) or C (HCV) infection (15.1%), the authors concluded that the highest quartile of ALT activity carried a twofold increase in the risk of diabetes independently of conventional risk factors. …
