Dose-effect relation between daily ethanol intake in the range 0-70 grams and %CDT value: validation of a cut-off value.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the ability to infer alcohol consumption using the %CDT (carbohydrate deficient transferrin) immunoassay (Axis Shield).


METHODS
One hundred and eighty-three healthy subjects (143 men, 40 women) undergoing a routine medical check-up at their workplace declared frequency and quantity of alcohol consumption covering the last 4 weeks. Seven sub-groups were made up from this population, according to daily ethanol intake and by increments of 10 g from 0 to 70 g/day. A reference group that consisted of 133 healthy teetotallers (74 men, 59 women) was recruited by occupational medicine in the same conditions as the 183 subjects of the study. Percentage CDT and gamma glutamyl transferase (GGT) were assayed on a fasting blood sample.


RESULTS
There was a proportional dose-response effect of daily ethanol intake on %CDT values in the range of 0-70 g per day. A threshold effect on %CDT values for patients having an alcohol intake of over 40 g per day was found, an effect which was not observed for GGT activity.


CONCLUSIONS
The kit has clinical usefulness, and the value of 2.6% proposed by the manufacturer for the cut-off for hazardous drinking in both sexes has been validated.
Schellenberg
François
F
Laboratoire de Biochimie, CHU Trousseau, F-37044 TOURS, France. f.schellenberg@chu-tours.fr
Schwan
Raymund
R
Mennetrey
Louise
L
Loiseaux
Marie-Nadia
MN
Pagès
Jean Christophe
JC
Reynaud
Michel
M
D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000097:blood* / Q000453:epidemiology; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014168:Transferrin / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000378:metabolism; D017132:Workplace; D005723:gamma-Glutamyltransferase / Q000097:blood
D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic; D014168:Transferrin; C056759:carbohydrate-deficient transferrin; D005723:gamma-Glutamyltransferase