title: Carbohydrate-deficient transferrin as a screening marker for drinking in a general hospital population.
abstract: We investigated the usefulness of the laboratory marker of alcohol consumption carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) in 101 consecutively admitted patients in a surgical and internal medical ward of a hospital in a rural wine-growing area. Four major aspects were considered: the influence of liver disease, the method of expression of CDT values (relative % vs absolute units/1), level and pattern of alcohol consumption and comparison with y-glutamyl transferase (GGT). The results show that %CDT is a more valuable discriminating marker of high alcohol consumption than absolute CDT values and its usefulness in this respect is independent of changes in serum total transferrin levels, as in liver disease. Sensitivity and specificity of % CDT were 70 and 98% respectively, compared with 65 and 83% respectively for GGT.
authors.affiliation: Universitätsklinik für Psychiatrie, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: O M
authors.initials: OM
authors.lastname: Lesch
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Walter
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Freitag
authors.forename: D E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Heggli
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Leitner
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mader
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Neumeister
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Passweg
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Pusch
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Semler
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sundrehagen
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kasper
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000201:enzymology / Q000453:epidemiology*; D001317:Austria / Q000453:epidemiology; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D006769:Hospitals, General; D006780:Hospitals, Rural; D006801:Humans; D008108:Liver Diseases, Alcoholic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000201:enzymology / Q000453:epidemiology; D008111:Liver Function Tests; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D008875:Middle Aged; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012016:Reference Values; D014168:Transferrin / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000032:analysis; D014920:Wine / Q000600:supply & distribution; D005723:gamma-Glutamyltransferase / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D014168:Transferrin; C056759:carbohydrate-deficient transferrin; D005723:gamma-Glutamyltransferase