Association between AST to ALT ratio and peripheral artery disease in Chinese adults with hypertension：a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: Previous studies had shown that aspartate aminotransferase to alanine aminotransferase (AST/ALT ratio) plays a role in cardiovascular disease. Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease. However, there are a little research on the association between the AST/ALT ratio and Peripheral artery disease (PAD). Methods: A total of 10, 900 hypertensive patients from the Chinese Hypertension Registry Study were included in the final analysis. The association between AST / ALT and peripheral arterial disease (PAD), which was defined as ABI ≤ 0.9 in either leg, was estimated by a multivariate logistic regression model.Results: Overall, the prevalence of PAD was 3.21%. After adjusting for potential confounders, AST / ALT ratio was independently and positively associated with the risk of PAD (OR: 1.31, 95% CI: 1.13 to 1.59), and a statistically significant increased risk of PAD for the third tertile (T3) of AST / ALT ratio compared to the first tertile (T1) (OR:1.49, 95% CI: 1.09 to 2.04, P-trend= 0.005) was found. Moreover, when the T1-T2 group was combined into one group and used it as a reference group, the risk of PAD increased with the increase of AST/ALT and the risk ratio was 1.52 (95% CI :1.20 to 1.95). Conclusion: A higher AST/ALT ratio (≥1.65) was associated with PAD risk in Chinese adults with hypertension. The presented results suggested that AST / ALT may help us highlight patients who are at high risk of vascular endpoints.Trial registration: CHICTR, CHiCTR1800017274. Registered 20 July 2018.