Elevated Aminotransferase Levels and Intracerebral Hemorrhage Deaths in a General Japanese Population.

Although chronic liver disease has been associated with cardiovascular disease, to which metabolic syndrome might be related, intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) generally has not been focused. Associations of chronic liver disease assessed by aspartate (AST) and alanine (ALT) aminotransferase levels with ICH deaths were examined using 15,952 subjects without a history of cardiovascular disease who underwent annual health checkups in 1997 in Japan. Proportional hazards regression analyses adjusted for age, sex, hypertension, current smoking, diabetes mellitus, drinking habits, excess body weight, and hypercholesterolemia were performed. During a mean follow-up of 18.6 ± 7.2 years, there were 227 stroke deaths (including 124 ischemic and 60 ICH deaths) and 135 coronary deaths. Elevated aminotransferase levels, defined as a serum AST or ALT level of ≥ 30 IU/L were significantly associated with ICH deaths (hazard ratio (HR) = 2.72, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.56-4.73, P = 0.0004). Because elevated aminotransferase levels are frequently observed in alcoholic or metabolic liver diseases, additional analyses were performed to examine the effect of drinking habits and/or metabolic syndrome on the association of elevated aminotransferase levels with ICH deaths. After exclusion of subjects with any drinking habit (n = 9,941), elevated aminotransferase levels were significantly associated with ICH deaths (HR = 2.88, 95%CI = 1.44-5.76, P = 0.0028). After exclusion of subjects with at least one metabolic syndrome component (n = 5,672), elevated aminotransferase levels were significantly associated with ICH deaths (HR = 6.47, 95% CI = 1.85-22.6, P = 0.0035). Elevated aminotransferase levels were not associated with ischemic stroke or coronary deaths in any models. Elevated aminotransferase levels were significantly associated with ICH deaths, independent of drinking habits, or metabolic syndrome.