Assessment of Liver Enzymes Level in Sudanese Hypertensive Patients

Hypertension is believed to have a wide range of effects on body's physiology with a controversial data on the association between hypertension and elevation of liver enzymes. Liver enzymes such as aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) are considered as markers of liver function. To investigate the proposed association of hypertension with liver enzymes. fifty-eight hypertensive patients were enrolled in this study with a mean age of 28-76 and another age-matched group of 42 individuals selected as a control group, demographic data were collected in a predesigned form, then the liver enzymes were measured for the patients as well as the individuals of the control group. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS, version 16. The means of plasma AST, ALT, ALP and GGT levels among patients were 20.79, 12.69, 81.72, and 20.48, respectively and among control group were 18.45, 9.53, 81.14 and 16.28 respectively, in spite of this obvious variations in liver enzymes among hypertensive patients when compared to the controls, this variation was found to be statistically insignificant. The study also showed that the plasma levels of AST (r=0.05, P value=0.089). and ALT (r=0.004, P value=0.972),ALP (r=0 .128,P value=0.214) were negatively correlated with BMI while the GGT(r=0.343, P value=0.000)was positively correlated with BM. The levels of liver enzymes in hypertensive patients were not significantly elevated compared to control group. While there is a correlation between BMI and plasma enzymes GGT. Levels of transaminases AST and ALT revealed significant association with the duration of hypertension.