[Studies on background of gamma-GTP abnormality in human multiphasic screening. (Part 1): Effect of obesity and ingestion of alcohol on gamma-GTP level in serum].

The present study deals mainly with the relationship between abnormal gamma-GTP level in serum on the one hand and obesity and ingestion of alcohol on the other hand on the basis of data for 1,493 cases (1,256 male cases, 237 female cases) who visited our clinic for their health check in the short-term human dry dock managed by the Fukuoka University Hospital. Abnormality in gamma-GTP serum level (> 60 mu/ml) was noted in 28.9% of men, which was second highest after 33.5% for the rate of triglyceride abnormality among the laboratory examinations performed in the human dry dock. In women the rate of abnormal LAP level in serum was the highest at 22.0%, while the rate of abnormal level of gamma-GTP was not more than 3%. The rate of abnormal gamma-GTP in serum increased with elevation in the obesity rate. Particularly in men there was a close relationship between the rate of abnormal gamma-GTP in serum and the amount of alcohol ingested, and the rate of abnormal gamma-GTP was 30.8% in men who take between 1 and 2 "gou" of Sake (1 "gou" of Sake contains 30g of alcohol) a day but reached 71.6% in case of the alcohol ingestion exceeding 2 "gou" of Sake. The relative risk ratio for abnormal gamma-GTP in serum was greater for alcohol than for obesity with 6.80 for those who are not obese but drink alcohol and 2.23 for those who are obese but do not drink alcohol. In both men and women, obesity plus ingestion of alcohol brought about a synergistic rather than additional effect. In men the relative risk ratio in the group having both obesity and ingestion of alcohol amounted to 11.5.