Upper Limits of Normal Aminotransferases in Children of Southern Iran

Background: alanine aminotransferase (alt) level is the most common diagnostic test used for detection of liver damage; however in the past few years some studies have questioned the normal aminotransferase range in adults and have suggested its revision. objectives: in this study, we assessed the upper limit of alt and aspartate transaminase (ast) in a healthy population of iranian children. patients and methods: a total of 500 apparently healthy children, aged 1 - 15 years, were enrolled in the study. each patient's serum ast, alt, triglyceride, cholesterol, and fasting blood sugar were checked. participants with low or high body mass indexes as well as abnormal lipid profiles and fasting blood sugars were excluded from the study. results: a total of 340 subjects with a mean age of 9.2 ± 3.5 years were included in the study. according to our study we reported the 95th percentile of alt values, corresponding to the upper limit of normal in healthy individuals, as 21 u/l for children. furthermore, the 95th percentile of ast values, corresponding to the upper limit of normal range in healthy children, was 29 u/l. conclusions: a clearly lower cutoff of normality for liver enzyme values in children of our population was demonstrated in this study. however, age and gender were not found to be determining factors for upper limit of normal range for alt in children.