Alcohol and Alcoholism Advance Access originally published online on April 19, 2006
Alcohol and Alcoholism 2006 41(4):431-437; doi:10.1093/alcalc/agl027
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PHOSPHATIDYLETHANOL (PEth) CONCENTRATIONS IN BLOOD ARE CORRELATED TO REPORTED ALCOHOL INTAKE IN ALCOHOL-DEPENDENT PATIENTS
1 Department of Laboratory Medicine Division of Clinical Chemistry and Pharmacology, Lund University Hospital, S-221 85 Lund, Sweden, 2 Department of Clinical Alcohol Research, Malmö University Hospital, Lund University, Lund, Sweden, 3 Department of Primary Health Care, Lund, Sweden and 4 Laboratory for Clinical Chemistry, South Älvsborg Hospital, Borås, Sweden
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Fax: +46 46 149870; E-mail: steina.aradottir{at}med.lu.se
(Received 31 October 2005; first review notified 16 January 2006; in revised form 16 March 2006; accepted 16 March 2006)
Aims: Phosphatidylethanol (PEth) is an abnormal phospholipid formed only in the presence of ethanol by the enzyme phospholipase D. PEth in blood is a promising new marker for ethanol abuse. None of the biological markers used at the present time is sensitive and specific enough for the diagnosis of alcoholism. Methods: The most frequently used alcohol markers [carbohydrate deficient transferrin (CDT), gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT), and mean corpuscular volume (MCV)] were studied together with PEth in actively drinking alcohol-dependent patients (inpatients and outpatients), with regard to correlation to ethanol intake and diagnostic sensitivity of the markers. The relation between the markers was also studied. Results: PEth, CDT, and GGT correlated to ethanol intake, with the strongest correlation found for PEth. The diagnostic sensitivity for PEth was 99%, and for other markers it varied between 40 and 77%. Only when CDT was combined with GGT was a sensitivity of 94% reached. PEth correlated to CDT and GGT but not to MCV. CDT did not correlate to GGT or MCV. Conclusions: Blood concentrations of PEth are highly correlated to ethanol intake, and the present results indicate that its diagnostic sensitivity is higher than that for previously established alcohol markers.
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