The diagnostic accuracy of carbohydrate-deficient transferrin, sialic acid and commonly used markers of alcohol abuse during abstinence.
BACKGROUND
The normalization of alcohol abuse markers during the abstinence depends on the time since the last drinking. The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy (area under the curve-AUC, sensitivity and specificity) of CDT, sialic acid and others biochemical and hematological markers of chronic alcohol abuse during abstinence.


METHODS
We studied 75 patients admitted to the treatment of alcohol dependence. The blood samples were collected upon admission to the hospital. CDT was estimated using an immunoturbidimetric assay after anion-exchange chromatography and sialic acid by enzymatic colorimetric method.


RESULTS
Mean values of all markers were significantly higher. All tests, except SA, negatively correlated with time of abstinence but not with age, duration of dependence and amounts of weekly alcohol consumption. The area under the curve (AUC) for all tested markers decreased progressively during the abstinence. The highest AUC was obtained for CDT (0.98) and the lowest for ALT (0.78) when alcohol was consumed in the last week. AUC for sialic acid was lower than of CDT but higher than of ALT.


CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that the diagnostic accuracy for tested laboratory markers depends on the self-reported time of abstinence being the highest for CDT in the first week of abstinence. The accuracy of sialic acid was observed between GGT and ALT.
Chrostek
Lech
L
Department of Biochemical Diagnostics, Medical University, Washington Street 15A, 15-269 Bialystok, Poland. chrostek@amb.edu.pl
Cylwik
Bogdan
B
Szmitkowski
Maciej
M
Korcz
Walenty
W
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000410:Alanine Transaminase / Q000097:blood; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases / Q000097:blood; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood*; D004909:Erythrocyte Indices; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019158:N-Acetylneuraminic Acid / Q000097:blood*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013695:Temperance; D014168:Transferrin / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000032:analysis; D005723:gamma-Glutamyltransferase / Q000097:blood
D015415:Biomarkers; D014168:Transferrin; C056759:carbohydrate-deficient transferrin; D005723:gamma-Glutamyltransferase; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases; D000410:Alanine Transaminase; D019158:N-Acetylneuraminic Acid