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Examination of gender bias in fatty acid ethyl ester and ethyl glucuronide hair analysis for determination of excessive alcohol use
Author(s) -
Gareri Joey,
Rao Chitra,
Koren Gideon
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.27.1_supplement.675.2
Subject(s) - ethyl glucuronide , alcohol , ethyl ester , hair analysis , chemistry , alcohol consumption , population , fatty acid , medicine , physiology , chromatography , biochemistry , pathology , environmental health , alternative medicine , organic chemistry
Fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEE) and ethyl glucuronide (EtG) in hair are validated biomarkers of chronic excessive alcohol use. Clinical studies examining dose‐response performance have been primarily conducted in male populations and other studies have shown an impact of hair cosmetics in producing both false‐negative EtG results and false‐positive FAEE results; suggesting a possible bias in using these biomarkers in female populations. n=199 female and n=73 male hair samples that tested positive for FAEE (>; 0.50 ng/mg) by GCMS following headspace solid‐phase micro‐extraction were tested for EtG by LC‐MSMS. A cut‐off value of 27 pg/mg‐EtG was applied. Clinical histories obtained via social worker or hair donor were reviewed against results where available. A higher rate of correspondence was found between FAEE and EtG levels amongst male (74.0%) over female (36.7%) subjects overall. Amongst female samples, there was a decrease in FAEE/EtG agreement for cosmetically‐coloured samples (20.8%) over untreated samples (42.5%). Twenty‐six percent of discordant female samples demonstrated reliable alternative evidence of alcohol abuse suggesting false‐negative EtG results. The findings demonstrate that these two biomarkers are best used in tandem when assessing alcohol consumption in a female population.