CARBOHYDRATE-DEFICIENT TRANSFERRIN AND GAMMA-GLUTAMYL-TRANSFERASE AS MARKERS OF HEAVY ALCOHOL-CONSUMPTION - GENDER DIFFERENCES

Carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) has been described as a more specific and sensitive marker of recent heavy alcohol consumption as c ompared with the current tests now available, such as gamma-glutamyltr ansferase (GGT). Most of the data generated from European populations have not compared the utility of CDT and GGT in the detection of heavy alcohol consumption as a function of gender. We examined the ability of both CDT and GGT to discriminate between 42 men and 18 women with h eavy alcohol consumption (>60 g/day) admitted to an alcohol detoxifica tion center and a group of controls matched for age, race, and gender. CDT was higher, but GGT lower, in control females compared with males . Both CDT and GGT were higher in patients of both genders. At specifi cities >90%, the sensitivity of CDT far detecting male alcohol abusers was 79% and for female alcohol abusers 44%. For GGT, the sensitivitie s were 65% and 44%, respectively. When both tests were used simultaneo usly, the sensitivity for the detection of alcohol abusers increased t o 95% for males and 72% for females. Receiver Operator Characteristic analysis tended to confirm the superiority of CDT over GGT in the dete ction of heavy alcohol consumption in males, but not in females. A pos itive relationship was found between serum iran levels and CDT in cont rol females but in no other group. The concordant findings of this Ame rican study with those in similar French and Finnish clinical populati ons, utilizing similar assay techniques, suggest that the measurement of CDT is clinically more useful than GGT in detecting recent heavy al cohol consumption in males. Because serum CDT and GGT levels appear to be independently associated with heavy alcohol consumption, their com bined measurement should increase the sensitivity of detection of this condition.