Haren et al. BMC Public Health 2010, 10:454 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/10/454 distinguishes non-alcoholic fatty liver disease at high risk. Hepatogastroenterology 2008, 55(85):1433-1438. 3. Fraser A, Harris R, Sattar N, Ebrahim S, Smith GD, Lawlor DA: Alanine aminotransferase, gamma glutamyltransferase and incident diabetes: The British Women’s Heart and Health Study and meta-analysis. Diabetes Care 2009, 32(4):741-51. 4. Fraser A, Harris R, Sattar N, Ebrahim S, Smith GD, Lawlor DA: Gamma- glutamyltransferase is associated with incident vascular events independently of alcohol intake: analysis of the British Women’s Heart and Health Study and Meta-Analysis. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 2007, 27(12):2729-2735. 5. Leonard D, McDermott R, Odea K, Rowley KG, Pensio P, Sambo E, Twist A, Toolis R, Lowson S, Best JD: Obesity, diabetes and associated cardiovascular risk factors among Torres Strait Islander people. Aust N Z J Public Health 2002, 26(2):144-149. 6. Daniel M, Rowley KG, McDermott R, O’Dea K: Diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance in Aboriginal Australians: prevalence and risk. Diabetes Res Clin Pract 2002, 57(1):23-33. 7. Schutte AE, Shemesh T, Rowley K, Best JD, McDermott R, O’Dea K: The metabolic syndrome and changing relationship between blood pressure and insulin with age, as observed in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Diabet Med 2005, 22(11):1589-1597. 8. Daniel M, Rowley KG, McDermott R, Mylvaganam A, O’Dea K: Diabetes incidence in an Australian aboriginal population. An 8-year follow-up study. Diabetes Care 1999, 22(12):1993-1998. 9. McDermott RA, McCulloch BG, Campbell SK, Young DM: Diabetes in the Torres Strait Islands of Australia: better clinical systems but significant increase in weight and other risk conditions among adults, 1999-2005. Med J Aust 2007, 186(10):505-508. 10. Vos T, Barker B, Begg S, Stanley L, Lopez AD: Burden of disease and injury in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples: the Indigenous health gap. Int J Epidemiol 2009, 38(2):470-7. 11. Alatalo P, Koivisto H, Puukka K, Hietala J, Anttila P, Bloigu R, Niemela O: Biomarkers of Liver Status in Heavy Drinkers, Moderate Drinkers and Abstainers. Alcohol Alcohol 2009, 44(2):199-203. 12. Suter PM: Is alcohol consumption a risk factor for weight gain and obesity? Crit Rev Clin Lab Sci 2005, 42(3):197-227. 13. Li M, Campbell S, McDermott R: gamma-Glutamyltransferase, Obesity, Physical Activity, and the Metabolic Syndrome in Indigenous Australian Adults. Obesity (Silver Spring) 2009, 17(4):809-13. 14. Alatalo PI, Koivisto HM, Hietala JP, Puukka KS, Bloigu R, Niemela OJ: Effect of moderate alcohol consumption on liver enzymes increases with increasing body mass index. Am J Clin Nutr 2008, 88(4):1097-1103. 15. Puukka K, Hietala J, Koivisto H, Anttila P, Bloigu R, Niemela O: Additive effects of moderate drinking and obesity on serum gamma-glutamyl transferase activity. Am J Clin Nutr 2006, 83(6):1351-1354, quiz 1448-1359. 16. Wang Z, Hoy WE: Is the Framingham coronary heart disease absolute risk function applicable to Aboriginal people? Med J Aust 2005, 182(2):66-69. 17. Cappuccio FP, Oakeshott P, Strazzullo P, Kerry SM: Application of Framingham risk estimates to ethnic minorities in United Kingdom and implications for primary prevention of heart disease in general practice: cross sectional population based study. Bmj 2002, 325(7375):1271. 18. Empana JP, Ducimetiere P, Arveiler D, Ferrieres J, Evans A, Ruidavets JB, Haas B, Yarnell J, Bingham A, Amouyel P, et al: Are the Framingham and PROCAM coronary heart disease risk functions applicable to different European populations? The PRIME Study. Eur Heart J 2003, 24(21):1903-1911. 19. D’Agostino RB, Grundy S, Sullivan LM, Wilson P: Validation of the Framingham coronary heart disease prediction scores: results of a multiple ethnic groups investigation. Jama 2001, 286(2):180-187. 20. O’Dea K, Rowley KG: Macrovascular disease risk factors and insulin resistance in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. J Diabetes Complications 2002, 16(1):9-16. 21. McDermott RA, Tulip F, Schmidt B: Diabetes care in remote northern Australian Indigenous communities. Med J Aust 2004, 180(10):512-516. 22. Miller G, McDermott R, McCulloch B, Leonard D, Arabena K, Muller R: The Well Person’s Health Check: a population screening program in indigenous communities in north Queensland. Aust Health Rev 2002, 25(6):136-147. 23. Australian Bureau of Statistics: 2001 Census Dictionary Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics 2001. Page 10 of 10 24. Haskell WL, Lee IM, Pate RR, Powell KE, Blair SN, Franklin BA, Macera CA, Heath GW, Thompson PD, Bauman A: Physical activity and public health: updated recommendation for adults from the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Heart Association. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2007, 39(8):1423-1434. 25. National Health and Medical Research Council: Australian Alcohol Guidelines: Health Risks and Benefits. Canberra: National Health and Medical Research Council 2001. 26. Alberti KG, Zimmet P, Shaw J: The metabolic syndrome–a new worldwide definition. Lancet 2005, 366(9491):1059-1062. 27. World Health Organisation: Obesity: preventing and managing the global epidemic: report of a WHO consultation on obesity, Geneva, 3-5 June, 1997 Geneva: World Health Organisation 1998. 28. Alberti KG, Zimmet PZ: Definition, diagnosis and classification of diabetes mellitus and its complications. Part 1: diagnosis and classification of diabetes mellitus provisional report of a WHO consultation. Diabet Med 1998, 15(7):539-553. 29. Nilssen O, Averina M, Brenn T, Brox J, Kalinin A, Archipovski V: Alcohol consumption and its relation to risk factors for cardiovascular disease in the north-west of Russia: the Arkhangelsk study. Int J Epidemiol 2005, 34(4):781-788. 30. Wilfred de Alwis NM, Day CP: Genetics of alcoholic liver disease and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Semin Liver Dis 2007, 27(1):44-54. 31. Wilfred de Alwis NM, Day CP: Genes and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Curr Diab Rep 2008, 8(2):156-163. 32. Lin CF, Shiau TJ, Ko YC, Chen PH, Wang JD: Prevalence and determinants of biochemical dysfunction of the liver in Atayal Aboriginal community of Taiwan: is betel nut chewing a risk factor? BMC Gastroenterol 2008, 8:13. 33. Scott JD, Garland N: Chronic liver disease in Aboriginal North Americans. World J Gastroenterol 2008, 14(29):4607-4615. 34. Lee DH, Silventoinen K, Hu G, Jacobs DR Jr, Jousilahti P, Sundvall J, Tuomilehto J: Serum gamma-glutamyltransferase predicts non-fatal myocardial infarction and fatal coronary heart disease among 28,838 middle-aged men and women. Eur Heart J 2006, 27(18):2170-2176. 35. Targher G, Bertolini L, Rodella S, Tessari R, Zenari L, Lippi G, Arcaro G: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is independently associated with an increased incidence of cardiovascular events in type 2 diabetic patients. Diabetes Care 2007, 30(8):2119-2121. 36. Trewin D, Madden R: The Health and Welfare of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples 2005. Canberra: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and Australian Bureau of Statistics 2005. 37. Stranges S, Freudenheim JL, Muti P, Farinaro E, Russell M, Nochajski TH, Trevisan M: Differential effects of alcohol drinking pattern on liver enzymes in men and women. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 2004, 28(6):949-956. 38. Stranges S, Freudenheim JL, Muti P, Farinaro E, Russell M, Nochajski TH, Trevisan M: Greater hepatic vulnerability after alcohol intake in African Americans compared with Caucasians: a population-based study. J Natl Med Assoc 2004, 96(9):1185-1192. 39. Stewart SH, Connors GJ: Ethnicity, alcohol drinking and changes in transaminase activity among heavy drinkers. J Natl Med Assoc 2007, 99(5):564-569. 40. Stewart SH: Racial and ethnic differences in alcohol-associated aspartate aminotransferase and gamma-glutamyltransferase elevation. Arch Intern Med 2002, 162(19):2236-2239. 41. Puukka K, Hietala J, Koivisto H, Anttila P, Bloigu R, Niemela O: Age-related changes on serum ggt activity and the assessment of ethanol intake. Alcohol Alcohol 2006, 41(5):522-527. 42. Greenfield TK, Kerr WC: Alcohol measurement methodology in epidemiology: recent advances and opportunities. Addiction 2008, 103(7):1082-1099. Pre-publication history The pre-publication history for this paper can be accessed here: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/10/454/prepub doi:10.1186/1471-2458-10-454 Cite this article as: Haren et al.: Alcohol, metabolic risk and elevated serum gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT) in Indigenous Australians. BMC Public Health 2010 10:454.