Liver Biomarkers and Lipid Profiles in Mexican and Mexican-American 10- to 14-Year-Old Adolescents at Risk for Type 2 Diabetes

Liver enzymes alanine aminotransferase (alt) and gamma glutamyl transferase (ggt) are markers for type 2 diabetes mellitus (t2dm); alkaline phosphatase is a marker of liver disease. mexican-american adolescents are disproportionately affected by t2dm,while in mexico its prevalence is emerging. we assessed liver biomarkers and lipid profiles among mexican and mexican-american adolescents 10-14 years old with high/low risk of t2dm through a cross-sectional,descriptive study (texas n=144; mexico n=149). we included family medical histories,anthropometry,and blood pressure. obesity was present in one-third of subjects in both sites. alt (ul) was higher (p<0.001) in high-risk adolescents (23.5 ± 19.5 versus 17.2 ± 13.4 for males,19.7 ± 11.6 versus 15.1 ± 5.5 for females),in toluca and in texas (26.0 ± 14.7 versus 20.0 ± 13.2 for males,18.2 ± 13.4 versus 14.6 ± 10.1 for females),as well as ggt (ul) (p<0.001) (18.7 ± 11.1 versus 12.4 ± 2.3 for males,13.6 ± 5.8 versus 11.5 ± 3.9 for mexican females; 21.0 ± 6.8 versus 15.4 ± 5.5 for males,14.3 ± 5.0 versus 13.8 ± 5.3 for females in texas). we found no differences by sex or bmi. total cholesterol and hdl were higher among mexican-americans (p<0.001). in conclusion,multiple risk factors were present in the sample. we found differences by gender and between high and low risk for t2dm adolescents in all liver enzymes in both sites. © 2017 ana cecilia fernández-gaxiola et al.