RESUMO
AIM: Evaluation of the diagnostic value (sensitivity, specificity and accuracy) of the new-carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT), sialic acid (SA) and traditional (GGT, AST, ALT and MCV) markers of alcohol abuse in alcohol dependent men irrespective of the time of abstinence. METHOD: 75 alcohol dependent men admitted for treatment have been tested. The examination was performed twice: upon admission to the hospital and after 3 weeks of hospitalization. CDT was estimated using an immunoturbidimetric assay after anion-exchange chromatography and sialic acid by the enzymatic colorimetric method. The diagnostic accuracy was calculated as the area under the ROC curve (AUC). RESULTS: At the time of admission to hospital, the values of CDT and sialic acid were elevated in comparison with the control group, similarly as with the traditional tests. After 3 weeks of hospitalization all test results decreased. CDT correlated positively with AST and sialic acid with ALT and GGT. The highest diagnostic accuracy was obtained for CDT (AUC=0.89). The diagnostic accuracy of sialic acid was lower than MCV, GGT and AST, but the same as ALT (AUC=0.66). CONCLUSIONS: CDT exhibits the highest diagnostic usefulness for alcohol abuse in alcohol dependent men in different time of abstinence. The tests with high diagnostic accuracy (CDT, MCV and GGT) are still useful after 3 weeks of hospitalization (abstinence), when the remaining tests are normalized.
