A COMPARISON OF CARBOHYDRATE-DEFICIENT TRANSFERRIN WITH OTHER MARKERSOF ALCOHOL MISUSE IN MALE SOLDIERS UNDER THE AGE OF 30

The paper describes a study of 58 consecutive male soldiers under 30 y ears old admitted to an alcohol treatment unit in London, and 51 age- and gender-matched controls to compare the efficacy of isoelectric foc using, a non-quantitative measure of carbohydrate deficient transferri n (CDT), with other markers of alcohol misuse. The Severity of Alcohol Dependence Questionnaire, the Michigan Alcohol Screening Test and the CAGE questions were all more sensitive in detecting alcohol misusers than the laboratory markers measured. At standard cut-off levels, the laboratory markers yielded low sensitivities even in those subjects wh o admitted to drinking over 80 g alcohol daily for at least 3 weeks im mediately prior to the study. CDT was the most sensitive (31%), follow ed by mean cell volume (14%) and gamma glutamyl transferase (11%). The questionnaires and laboratory, markers had good specificities.