The positive association of serum gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase with atherosclerosis in females, not in males: a population based large scale cross-sectional study
Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between serum gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase (GGT) and brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) as an indicator for atherosclerosis in Japanese males and females after adjusting fatty liver.
Design: A cross-sectional study.
Setting: A health checkup center in Japan.
Participants: 846 Japanese males and females aged 24-84 years recruited from people who received a medical health checkup program with a standardized questionnaire and an automatic waveform analyzer to measure baPWV.
Main outcome measures: We measured serum GGT concentrations and baPWV. Fatty liver was diagnosed by a standardized criteria using with abdominal ultrasonography. The postmenopausal state was defined as beginning 1 year after the cessation of menses.
Results: In females, log2 GGT was positively associated with baPWV (β=0.11, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.02-0.19, p<0.05) independent on age, BMI, systolic blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose, triglycerides, estimated glomerular ratio, fatty liver, menopausal state and parameters of life styles. However, in males, the positive association of log2 GGT with baPWV was not significant (β=-0.04, 95% CI -0.10-0.03, p=0.28) in multivariable linear regression analyses.
Conclusions: The serum GGT level was associated with baPWV independently on co -variate including fatty liver or menopausal state just in females, but not in males. When the elevation of GGT was observed in females at clinical practice, we should check them using with some screening tests for atherosclerosis including baPWV
