Etiological evaluation of the elevated transaminases in children
Abstract
Objective: We aimed to determine the etiology of hypertransaminasemia in children, demonstrate the differences according to the age and evaluate course of transaminases.
Method: We retrospectively analyzed the medical records of children who presented with elevated transaminase levels for at least 2 months, aged between 3 months and 18 years, for demographic features, laboratory, radiologic and histopathological findings.
Results: Among total 292 children, 194 (66.4%) were male and 98 (33.6%) were female. The mean age was 6.5±5.4 years. The 45.9% of the children had no complaints at presentation. Majority of the patients had mildly elevated transaminases (81.6%). The most common etiology was non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) (25.7%). The NAFLD was more prevelant in patients older than 5 years-old (p<0.001). The second cause was infectious diseases (97.8% were viral infections) and more prevelant in patients younger than 2 years-old (p=0.043). In 34.1 % of the children, no overt cause of hypertransaminasemia was identified. The patients with unidentified etiology were significantly younger, but had higher mean aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels than the patients in whom the etiology was identified (p= <0.0001, p=0.008 respectively). The normalization of transaminases was seen in 40.4% of the patients at mean 5.4±4.4 months. The shortest normalization time was observed in drug related liver injury (DILI) among all other etiologies (p=0.015).
Conclusions: The most common cause of hypertransaminasemia in childhood were NAFLD and viral infections, which varies by age. A stepwise approachment to hypertransaminasemia leads to early diagnosis.
Keywords
References
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Details
Primary Language
English
Subjects
Health Care Administration
Journal Section
Research Article
Authors
Aslıhan Sanrı
*
0000-0003-1898-0898
Türkiye
Emre Sanrı
0000-0003-2192-3229
Türkiye
Tülin Revide Şaylı
0000-0003-3548-5477
Türkiye
Publication Date
May 20, 2020
Submission Date
July 17, 2019
Acceptance Date
April 29, 2020
Published in Issue
Year 2020 Volume: 42 Number: 1
Cited By
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Turkish Journal of Clinics and Laboratory
https://doi.org/10.18663/tjcl.1832567