title: Indices of alcohol intake. Comparison between serum concentrations of alkaline phosphatase and gamma glutamyltransferase in middle-aged men.
abstract: A comparison was performed on the validity of serum-gamma-glutamyltransferase (S-GT) and serum-alkaline phosphatase (S-ALP) concentrations for establishing the increased alcohol intake in a group of middle-aged men in Uppsala. These men were all born in 1915 and were participants of a special health investigation performed at their age of 60 years. Subjects who were registered at the Temperance Board, or had ethyl alcohol in urine or gave a positive reply to a question of alcohol intake were designated alcohol index cases. The mean S-GT values of these different alcohol index groups were significantly higher than that of a randomly selected subgroup devoid of alcohol findings in the same population. No such differences were found when comparing the corresponding mean S-ALP values. The authors thus point to the superiority of S-GT determinations to S-ALP determinations, especially in patients where the alcohol consumption certainly not is to be regarded as excessive.
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000428:Alcohol Drinking; D000469:Alkaline Phosphatase / Q000097:blood*; D000431:Ethanol / Q000652:urine; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012737:Sex Factors; D005723:gamma-Glutamyltransferase / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D000431:Ethanol; D005723:gamma-Glutamyltransferase; D000469:Alkaline Phosphatase