RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: emerging evidence suggests that elevated liver enzymatic activity is associated with diabetes. The purpose was to investigate the prevalence of elevated liver enzymes and its relationship between impaired fasting glucose (IFG) and undiagnosed diabetes in family medicine practice. METHODS: a cross-sectional prospective analytic study was conducted in a representative sample of 100 patients aged 25 to 60 years who underwent to a screening for diabetes. Risk factors, BMI, waist circumference, blood pressure, fasting glucose, lipid profile, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) and C-reactive protein were evaluated. The relationships between liver enzymes, undiagnosed diabetes and IFG were analyzed through c(2) and Student's t test to identify differences in continuous variables. RESULTS: the prevalence found in undiagnosed diabetes were ALT 16.9 %, AST 15.8 % and GGT 20.6 % and in IFG were 76.3 %, 68.4 % and 77.8 % respectively. The relationships between elevated ALT (0.001) and GGT (0.000) with undiagnosed diabetes and IFG were statistically significant. CONCLUSION: elevated ALT or GGT raise the possibility of undiagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus in family practice.