title: Comparison of phosphatidylethanol results to self-reported alcohol consumption among young injection drug users.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To test the value of phosphatidylethanol (PEth) as a biomarker for alcohol consumption among injecting drug users (IDUs).
  
  
  METHODS
  As part of a longitudinal study of young IDUs, dried blood spots and self-reported alcohol by structured interview were collected at baseline. We compared self-reported alcohol use to detectable PEth (≥8 ng/ml) in the blood spots as well as the relationships between quantitative PEth results and quantity measures of alcohol consumption.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were strong associations between PEth and self-reported categorical measures of alcohol consumption (all P < 0.01). There was high specificity for reporting abstaining from alcohol; 94% of those who reported not consuming alcohol in the prior month tested negative for PEth. PEth was well correlated with measures of alcohol use (e.g. with reported number of days drinking in the prior month: Spearman r = 0.70 (P < 0.001)).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The positive correlation of PEth with reported alcohol consumption suggests that PEth may be a useful marker in settings where alcohol consumption is difficult to assess, or to corroborate or invalidate self-reported measures of alcohol consumption.
authors.affiliation: University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jain
authors.affiliation: University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.affiliation: University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Alya
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Briceño
authors.affiliation: University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Kimberly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Page
authors.affiliation: University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA judy.hahn@ucsf.edu.
authors.forename: Judith A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Hahn
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000097:blood*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D055030:Drug Users / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D020404:Glycerophospholipids / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D057566:Self Report; D015813:Substance Abuse Detection / Q000379:methods*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D020404:Glycerophospholipids; C051521:phosphatidylethanol