Usefulness of Biomarkers to Screen Heavy Drinking in Korean Females

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The present study purposed to evaluate the clinical usefulness of biological indicators in identifying Korean female heavy drinkers. METHODS: Fifty five drinking women were selected among those who visited the Department of Family Medicine of Chungnam National University Hospital during the period from January to December 2006. We surveyed the alcohol intake during the recent one month. The correlation of alcohol intake with %CDT (carbohydrate- deficient transferrin), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), gamma glutamyl transferase (gammaGT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) was examined. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and ROC (receiver operating characteristic) curve of the biomarkers for heavy drinking (more than 7 drinks per week, one drink= 14 g of alcohol) were also investigated. RESULTS: The mean weekly alcohol intake showed a significant positive correlation with %CDT (r=0.583, P< 0.01), MCV (r=0.290, P<0.05) and AST (r=0.423, P<0.01). The sensitivity of %CDT, MCV, gammaGT, AST and ALT to heavy drinking were 66.7%, 13.3%, 40.0%, 26.7% and 26.7%, respectively, and the specificity 80.0%, 97.4%, 71.1%, 90.0% and 85.0%, respectively, and positive predictive values 55.6%, 66.6%, 35.3%, 50.0% and 40.0%, respectively, and negative predictive values 86.5%, 74.5%, 75.0%, 76.6% and 75.6%, respectively. The areas under the ROC curve (95% confidence interval) of %CDT, MCV, gammaGT, AST and ALT were 0.873 (0.780~0.966), 0.806 (0.668~0.944), 0.549 (0.372~0.725), 0.519 (0.328~0.710) and 0.479 (0.293~0.666), respectively. CONCLUSION: %CDT is considered as the most useful marker for identifying Korean female heavy drinkers.