Low ALT blood levels are associated with lower baseline fitness amongst participants of a cardiac rehabilitation program

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: Objective assessment tools for patients' frailty are lacking. Such tools would have been highly valuable for assessment of candidates for cardiac rehabilitation programs. Low ALT (Alanine aminotransferase) values were recently shown to be a promising parameter for objective, quantitative frailly assessment. METHODS: This was a retrospective study of patients participating in a cardiac rehabilitation program. RESULTS: Patients with lower ALT activity levels at the initiation of rehabilitation program had lower estimated METs values (6.86 vs. 7.73; p < 0.001), shorter stress test duration (06:41 vs. 07:44 min; p < 0.001), higher resting heart rate (72 ± 13 vs. 70 ± 13 BPM; p = 0.01) and lower heart rate reserve (49 ± 24 vs. 54 ± 24; p < 0.001). Multivariate linear modeling demonstrated that ALT values were Independent determinants of baseline exercise capacity (expressed in METs). CONCLUSION: Lower ALT values, measured prior to the initiation of cardiac rehabilitation programs may indicate frailty of patients and be indicative for poor rehabilitation outcomes. Further, prospective studies should assess the potential correlation between ALT values and rehabilitation efficiency. We aimed to assess the potential correlation between the baseline ALT values and the baseline exercise capacity, as expressed in METs (Metabolic equivalent of tasks). 3806 patients were included in our study.