Serum Gamma-Glutamyl Transferase and Its Level in Hypertension

Hypertension, a chronic medical condition of elevated blood pressure in the arteries which can be classified as prehypertension and hypertension. Serum gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT), an enzyme that transfers gamma-glutamyl functional group is a diagnostic marker of liver disease, excessive alcohol consumption, but recently its level was found to be elevated in prehypertension or hypertension. A total of 315 people was selected for clinic-based comparative Crosssectional study. Data was generated using a clinical report, physical examination, review of medical and clinical reports, and interviews using a structured questionnaire. The blood sample was withdrawn after proper consent of the study population for measurement of laboratory-based parameters. Serum GGT was estimated using the method described by Persijn and Van der Slik Kinetic spectrophotometric method as recommended by International Federation for Clinical Chemistry. Data was entered and analyzed using SPSS and Excel. Among 315 study population majority were male and adults. Prevalence of prehypertension and hypertension was relatively high (27.5% and 39.5% respectively). Among the hypertensive population, males (40.2%) and 60 years of age (71.6%) shared a larger percentage. Serum GGT level positively correlates with prehypertension and hypertension with p-value 0.12 and 0.001 respectively. The significance of correlation withstands even after adjustment for age-group and gender. Prevalence of hypertension is increasing with male and older people becoming more prone to hypertension. Serum GGT levels positively correlated with prehypertension and hypertension even after adjustment for age and gender suggesting that GGT level can be used as indicator of prehypertension and hypertension.