Evaluation of serum levels of liver enzymes and C-reactive protein (CRP) in overweight individuals with and without metabolic syndrome

Abstract

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a disease that involves several metabolic changes, including dyslipidemia, glucose intolerance, obesity and hypertension. The changes in liver enzyme levels have been shown to be a useful marker in the diagnosis of MetS. There are few studies evaluating these enzymes in overweight individuals with or without MetS. This study evaluated the serum levels of liver enzymes (ALT, AST, and GGT) as well as C-reactive protein (CRP) as inflammatory markers in overweight individuals with and without MS. We studied 97 subjects, 41 eutrophic healthy controls (EU), 28 overweight individuals without MetS (OSSM) and 28 overweight individuals with MetS (OCSM). Analyses of total cholesterol, HDL-C, LDL-C, triacylglycerol, fasting glucose, ALT, AST and GGT were performed in a biochemical auto analyzer. The determination was performed by CRP enzyme in microparticles (MEIA). The nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis test was performed and the results were presented as median (minimum-maximum). Spearman correlation was also performed in this study. Serum levels of liver enzymes (ALT, AST and GGT) did not differ between group EU and group OSSM, however, statistically significant differences when these parameters were compared between EU and OCSM and OSSM and OCSM (p <0.001). Glucose levels were positively correlated with ALT, AST and GGT. The group showed a significant increase in serum CRP when compared to other groups (p <0.001). We conclude that overweight was not able to alter the levels of liver enzymes and CRP levels and the elevation of serum GGT may be considered an additional risk factor for MetS.