Table 3.

Associations between alanine aminotransferase levels and systolic or diastolic blood pressures

ALT Levels (U/L)	Total				Hypertensive				Normotensive
	LS-Means*	S.E*	β†	P value†	LS-Means*	S.E*	β†	P value†	LS-Means*	S.E*	β†	P value†
SBP
ALT, continuous	113.98	0.00	0.02	< 0.001	137.57	0.02	0.02	< 0.001	112.95	0.00	0.01	< 0.001
Group I
0–40	113.50	0.00	–	–	136.73	0.02	–	–	112.61	0.00	–	–
> 40	117.66	0.01	1.19	< 0.001	140.30	0.03	1.31	< 0.001	115.63	0.01	0.57	< 0.001
Group II
0–20	112.57	0.00	–	–	135.95	0.03	–	–	111.83	0.00	–	–
20.01–40	114.75	0.00	0.27	< 0.001	137.37	0.03	-0.01	0.905	113.68	0.00	0.16	< 0.001
40.01–60	117.27	0.01	1.22	< 0.001	139.72	0.05	1.1	< 0.001	115.41	0.01	0.63	< 0.001
60.0–80	117.91	0.02	1.39	< 0.001	140.57	0.07	1.47	< 0.001	115.79	0.01	0.66	< 0.001
> 80.01	118.45	0.02	1.59	< 0.001	141.30	0.07	1.64	< 0.001	116.09	0.01	0.71	< 0.001
Pfor trend††	< 0.001				< 0.001				< 0.001
DBP
ALT, continuous	73.88	0.00	0.01	< 0.001	93.41	0.01	0.01	< 0.001	73.02	0.00	0.01	< 0.001
Group I
0–40	73.57	0.00	–	–	93.27	0.01	–	–	72.82	0.00	–	–
> 40	76.20	0.01	0.88	< 0.001	93.86	0.03	0.37	< 0.001	74.60	0.01	0.41	< 0.001
Group II
0–20	72.92	0.00	–	–	93.11	0.02	–	–	72.29	0.00	–	–
20.01–40	74.45	0.00	0.39	< 0.001	93.41	0.02	0.32	< 0.001	73.55	0.00	0.28	< 0.001
40.01–60	75.93	0.01	0.98	< 0.001	93.64	0.03	0.42	< 0.001	74.45	0.01	0.52	< 0.001
60.0–80	76.38	0.01	1.15	< 0.001	94.05	0.05	0.75	< 0.001	74.71	0.01	0.57	< 0.001
> 80	76.74	0.01	1.31	< 0.001	94.18	0.05	0.77	< 0.001	74.89	0.01	0.63	< 0.001
Pfor trend††	< 0.001				< 0.001				< 0.001

SBP: systolic blood pressure; DBP: diastolic blood pressure; ALT: alanine aminotransferase; LS-Means: Least-squares means; S.E: standard error of the LS-Means

*Adjusted for age

^†Adjusted for age, sex, ethnicity, area, education, body mass index, average salt consumption, history of diabetes, overall stress and hepatitis B surface antigen status

^††P for trend were calculated by setting categorized ALT levels as a continuous variable