This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Comparative Value of Carbohydrate-Deficient Transferrin, -Glutamyltransferase, and Mean Corpuscular Volume

Bertrand Yersin, MD, PD, MER; Jean-François Nicolet, MD; Hedy Decrey, MD; Michel Burnier, MD, PD, MER; Guy van Melle, PhD, PD, MER; Alain Pécoud, MD

Arch Intern Med. 1995;155(17):1907-1911.

Abstract
Background
Screening medical patients for excessive alcohol drinking is important because minimal intervention by physicians is effective in reducing excessive consumption. Screening tests, such as biologic markers of alcohol consumption, should therefore be investigated to assess their validity to detect alcohol drinking.

Method
Levels of carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT), -glutamyltransferase (GGT), and mean corpuscular volume (MCV) were determined in 1202 consecutive patients (20 to 75 years old) seen at the medical emergency ward (n=552) and the primary care center (n=650) of a city and teaching hospital. Each eligible patient was administered a CAGE questionnaire (an acronym for questions regarding cutting down on drinking, annoyance at others' concern about drinking, feeling guilty about drinking, and using alcohol as an eye-opener in the morning), and for each CAGE-positive patient (score 1) as well as for a random sex-matched sample of CAGE-negative patients, standardized data about the recent level of alcohol drinking, morbidities, drug therapy, and smoking were recorded. The operating characteristics of CDT, GGT, and MCV were determined according to alcohol consumption and the CAGE test. Sensitivities, specificities, and receiver operating characteristic curves were computed to compare the tests at different cutoff values.

Results
Levels of CDT were elevated in 21% of men and 7% of women. According to recent alcohol consumption in men (>60 g/d), the respective sensitivity and specificity of the tests were 0.58 and 0.82 for CDT, 0.69 and 0.65 for GGT, and 0.27 and 0.91 for MCV. Overall, receiver operating characteristic curves demonstrated similar performance of the three tests for screening of excessive alcohol drinking or alcohol abuse. However, in young men (<40 years of age) and in smokers, CDT was superior to GGT or MCV.

Conclusions
The study suggests that CDT determination may be a useful test for screening programs of excessive alcohol drinking in young male medical patients.

(Arch Intern Med. 1995;155:1907-1911)

Author Affiliations
From the Department of Internal Medicine, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (Drs Yersin and Nicolet), Policlinique Médicale Universitaire (Drs Nicolet, Decrey, Burnier, and Pécoud), and Institut Universitaire de Médecine Sociale et Préventive (Dr van Melle), Lausanne, Switzerland.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati     What's this?

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

AGE-RELATED CHANGES ON SERUM GGT ACTIVITY AND THE ASSESSMENT OF ETHANOL INTAKE
PUUKKA et al.
Alcohol Alcohol 2006;41:522-527.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

SERUM GAMMA-GLUTAMYL TRANSFERASE IN ALCOHOLICS, MODERATE DRINKERS AND ABSTAINERS: EFFECT ON GT REFERENCE INTERVALS AT POPULATION LEVEL
HIETALA et al.
Alcohol Alcohol 2005;40:511-514.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

ACCURACY OF CARBOHYDRATE-DEFICIENT TRANSFERRIN IN THE DETECTION OF EXCESSIVE ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW
Koch et al.
Alcohol Alcohol 2004;39:75-85.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

JOINT USE OF CLINICAL PARAMETERS, BIOLOGICAL MARKERS AND CAGE QUESTIONNAIRE FOR THE IDENTIFICATION OF HEAVY DRINKERS IN A LARGE POPULATION-BASED SAMPLE
Bataille et al.
Alcohol Alcohol 2003;38:121-127.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Laboratory Measures of Alcohol (Ethanol) Consumption: Strategies to Assess Drinking Patterns with Biochemical Measures
Sommers et al.
Biol Res Nurs 2003;4:203-217.
ABSTRACT  

Diagnostic usefulness of carbohydrate-deficient transferrin for detecting alcohol-related problems in hospitalized patients
Gomez et al.
Alcohol Alcohol 2001;36:266-270.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Improved Diagnostic Classification of Alcohol Abusers by Combining Carbohydrate-deficient Transferrin and {{gamma}}-Glutamyltransferase
Sillanaukee and Olsson
Clin. Chem. 2001;47:681-685.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Protein Glycosylation and Diseases: Blood and Urinary Oligosaccharides as Markers for Diagnosis and Therapeutic Monitoring
Durand and Seta
Clin. Chem. 2000;46:795-805.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

INFLUENCE OF AGE, ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION AND ABSTINENCE ON THE SENSITIVITY OF CARBOHYDRATE-DEFICIENT TRANSFERRIN, {gamma}-GLUTAMYLTRANSFERASE AND MEAN CORPUSCULAR VOLUME
Mundle et al.
Alcohol Alcohol 1999;34:760-766.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

PATTERNS OF ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION IN THE SEYCHELLES ISLANDS (INDIAN OCEAN)
Perdrix et al.
Alcohol Alcohol 1999;34:773-785.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Dose-Dependent Inverse Relationship Between Alcohol Consumption and Serum Lp(a) Levels in Black African Males
Fontana et al.
Arterioscler. Thromb. Vasc. Bio. 1999;19:1075-1082.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Alcohol Screening Questionnaires in Women: A Critical Review
Bradley et al.
JAMA 1998;280:166-171.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Patients with Alcohol Problems
O'Connor and Schottenfeld
NEJM 1998;338:592-602.
FULL TEXT  

Validation by isoelectric focusing of the anion-exchange isotransferrin fractionation step involved in determination of carbohydrate-deficient transferrin by the CDTect assay
Arndt et al.
Clin. Chem. 1998;44:27-34.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Increased serum concentration of carbohydrate-deficient transferrin in patients with combined pancreas and kidney transplantation
Arndt et al.
Clin. Chem. 1997;43:344-351.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT