Relationship Between Aspartate Aminotransferase To Alanine Aminotransferase Ratio And Risk Of Incident Diabetes Mellitus In A Chinese Population

Abstract Background: Recent studies have shown that the serum aspartate aminotransferase/alanine aminotransferase (AST/ALT) ratio is related to metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance. However, the relationship between AST/ALT and the risk of incident diabetes mellitus remains to be unclear. This study aims to explore the relationship between AST/ALT and the risk of incident diabetes in Chinese adults Methods: This study used data from the Chinese Health Screening Project. A total of 86,849 non-diabetic patients were enrolled. Cox proportional hazards model, ROC analysis and subgroup analysis were used to evaluate the independent influence of baseline AST/ALT on the risk of incident diabetes in the future.Results: During an average follow-up of 3.13 years, 1790 subjects developed diabetes mellitus among 86849 individuals aged≥20 years. AST/ALT was negatively correlated with low density lipoprotein cholesterol, body mass index, systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, diastolic blood pressure, fasting blood glucose, and triglyceride. After adjusting for potential confounders, AST/ALT was significantly negatively correlated with the risk of incident diabetes in the future (HR, 0.33; 95% CI, 0.21-0.52). Area under ROC was 0.642. Subgroup analysis showed that negative correlation was more significant among subjects with BMI≥18.5 kg/m2 and < 24 kg/m2, age <40 years old, or in males. Conclusions: In Chinese adults, AST/ALT is negatively correlated with the risk of diabetes.