We included 235 hypertensive and 708 normotensive subjects (mean age 47.3 ± 9.6 and 58.0 ± 10.2 years respectively) from the Hong Kong Cardiovascular Risk Factor Prevalence Study-2 (CRISPS-2) in 2000–2004 who had drank < 1/week. In the follow-up study in 2005–2008 (CRISPS-3), 126 out of the 708 subjects had developed hypertension.
Raised plasma ALT (OR = 1.22 per SD of log-transformed level, P = 0.045) and GGT (OR = 1.38 per SD of log-transformed level, P = 0.001) levels were associated with hypertension at baseline in CRISPS-2 after adjusting for covariates. Among subjects not on anti-hypertensive medications, plasma ALP, ALT and GGT were related to blood pressure (P < 0.01). In subjects normotensive at CRISPS-2, plasma GGT, but not ALP, ALT and AST, was an independent predictor of new-onset hypertension at CRISPS-3 (OR = 1.38 per SD of log-transformed level, P = 0.020 and OR = 2.68 for 3rd tertile vs. 1st tertile, P = 0.004) after adjusting for covariates.
Among the 4 plasma markers, increased GGT activity is the strongest predictor for existing and new-onset hypertension in Hong Kong Chinese.