RELATIONSHIP OF SERUM ALANINE AMINOTRANSFERASE (ALT) TO BODY-MASS INDEX (BMI) IN BLOOD-DONORS - THE NEED TO CORRECT ALT FOR BMI IN BLOOD-DONOR SCREENING

A study was carried out on 1,028 voluntary blood donors to see how body mass index (BMI) correlated with the serum alanine amino transferase (ALT) activity. The mean ALT (U/l) values were 19.35, 27.63, 40.79 and 54.41 in the four BMI categories of 120, 20 1-25, 25.1-30 and >30, respectively. This study showed that the mean serum ALT level of obese subjects (BMI > 30 kg/m(2)), compared with the two categories of normal subjects (i.e. BMI less than or equal to 20 and BMI = 20.1-25 kg/m(2)), was increased by 28 and 1.96 times, respectively. Compared with the BMI group 1.20, there was a gradual per cent increase in the mean serum ALT in the three different BMI groups: 20.1-25 (+133%), 25.1-30 (+196%) and >30 kg/m(2) (+280%). This indicates the need to correct ALT values for BMI for blood donor screening, instead of using actual ALT values.