Interpreting abnormal liver blood test results
Stewart, Stuart Distante, Sonia Duke, Nicola
Stewart, Stuart
Distante, Sonia
Duke, Nicola
Abstract
'Practice Pointer' article.
What you need to know
- Core liver blood tests have low sensitivity and specificity for diagnosing liver disease, so consider an abnormal result a prompt to use a more specific test
- Repeat a liver blood test only if you know the cause of the abnormality, and if you are not sure, establish the most likely cause first
- Abnormal liver blood test results rarely return to normal within one month
- Liver blood tests should not be interpreted in isolation, but used as part of a diagnostic pathway in conjunction with other investigations
- Risk and prognosis in liver disease are determined by cause, more than degree of liver blood test abnormality
MIDER Authors
Affiliations
University of Manchester; Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust; Oslo University Hospital, Norway; Abbey Surgery, Tavistock; South Warwickshire University NHS Foundation Trust; University of Warwick, Coventry
Date
2025-11-13
Type
Article
Collections
Citation
Stewart S, Distante S, Duke N, Shearman J. Interpreting abnormal liver blood test results. BMJ. 2025 Nov 13;391:e082648. doi: 10.1136/bmj-2024-082648.