Liver Health

Raised liver enzymes appear in one in five reports#

The liver processes nutrients, stores and releases energy, and helps the body handle medicines and other substances. When liver cells are irritated or injured, enzymes that normally work inside them can rise in the blood. A raised result does not identify the cause on its own, but it is a signal that deserves clinical attention in the context of the full panel and the person's history.

Among 7,810 reports with at least one of SGPT, SGOT or GGT, 21.0% had a result above the threshold used for this analysis. The analysis flags SGPT (ALT) above 40 U/L, SGOT (AST) above 40 U/L, or GGT above 60 U/L.

On the narrower SGPT-only measure, 17.9% of 7,809 reports were above 40 U/L. Most of these raised results were in the 41–80 U/L band:

At the same SGPT threshold of 40 U/L or above, the share rose from 16.4% in WHI 2025 to 18.7% this year: a 2.3-percentage-point increase across the two tested samples.

The edition comparison uses SGPT at or above 40 U/L; the distribution table uses above 40. Figures count reports from insured employees and covered family, not unique people or the wider workforce.

Raised liver enzymes are three times as common in men#

The overall share was 30.1% among 4,433 male reports and 9.1% among 3,377 female reports, a 3.3-fold difference. The age pattern shows where this gap is concentrated:

One in three male reports in both the 20s and 30s had a raised liver enzyme. The male share then fell across the older age groups. Among female reports, the share was lower at every displayed age and highest at ages 50–59. Across both sexes, the adult result also peaked in the 30s, at 24.2%, and was lower in every older group.

Raised liver enzymes were also more common in employee reports: 23.7% among 5,158 reports, compared with 15.9% among 2,652 reports from covered family members.

Delhi NCR leads the five metros#

Delhi NCR had the highest share among the five pincode-based metro reporting areas, at 34.4%. The next highest was Hyderabad at 21.7%, a gap of 12.7 percentage points.

Delhi NCR also led within both sexes: 47.5% among male reports and 17.0% among female reports. That is close to one in two male reports from the city, and the female share is more than double those in Bengaluru (7.6%), Pune (7.1%) and Hyderabad (6.8%).

City groups use report pincodes and can include surrounding areas. These are results among tested reports, not city-wide rates.

High triglycerides accompany over half of raised liver-enzyme results#

Triglycerides are fats carried in the blood. High levels often sit alongside other metabolic risk signals, so reading them with liver enzymes, HDL cholesterol and blood sugar gives a clinician more context than any one result alone.

In reports with the required paired measurements, high triglycerides, low HDL and raised HbA1c were each more common when a liver-enzyme threshold was crossed. High triglycerides had the largest gap, at 23.4 percentage points.

The high-triglyceride share was 1.8 times as high when a liver enzyme was raised. Triglycerides, HDL and HbA1c each show a different part of metabolic health, so the pattern supports reviewing the available results together. A clinician still needs the person's history and other tests to interpret the raised enzyme.

The Blood Sugar page explains HbA1c. The Alcohol page provides a separate view of reported drinking habits; the survey and laboratory datasets are not linked at the individual level.