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BIOMARKER: Assessment of alcohol consumption among hepatitis C‐positive people receiving opioid maintenance treatment using direct ethanol metabolites and self‐report: a pilot study
Author(s) -
Wurst Friedrich M.,
Haber Paul S.,
Wiesbeck Gerhard,
Watson Bianca,
Wallace Cate,
Whitfield John B.,
Halter Claudia,
Weinmann Wolfgang,
Conigrave Katherine M.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
addiction biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.445
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1369-1600
pISSN - 1355-6215
DOI - 10.1111/j.1369-1600.2007.00076.x
Subject(s) - ethyl glucuronide , alcohol use disorders identification test , medicine , abstinence , population , phosphatidylethanol , alcohol , biomarker , urine , ethanol , gastroenterology , alcohol consumption , poison control , psychiatry , environmental health , chemistry , injury prevention , organic chemistry , phosphatidylcholine , membrane , phospholipid , biochemistry
This study was conducted to identify the alcohol consumption among hepatitis C‐positive people receiving opioid maintenance therapy using self‐report and biomarkers. A total of 49 people (28 male, 21 female) were hepatitis C virus (HCV) positive and were included. The alcohol use disorder identification test (AUDIT) and self‐reported ethanol intake in the last 28 days were assessed. In addition to gamma‐glutamyl‐transferase (GGT) and mean corpuscular volume (MCV), ethyl glucuronide (EtG) and ethyl sulphate (EtS) were determined in serum and urine (UEtG, UEtS, SEtG) using liquid chromatography/tandem mass‐spectroscopy (LC/MS‐MS) with deuterated internal standards. Abstinence from alcohol was reported for the last 28 days by 13 participants and for the last 7 days by 22. AUDIT was > 8 in 27 cases. The maximum values were 34.8 mg/l for UEtG, 5.3 mg/l for UEtS and 0.15 for SEtG. Among the 19 UEtG positives, 8 had not reported any ethanol intake in the 7 days prior to the study. Six participants reported intake of up to 320 g of ethanol in the last 7 days, but were negative for SEtG, UEtG and UEtS. Self‐reported ethanol intake in the last 28 days correlated with AUDIT score ( r = 0.733, P < 0.001), with the direct ethanol metabolites and MCV. In this population, abstinence and episodic heavy drinking are more common than in the general population. Episodic heavy drinking is a significant cause of acute risk in this population. Results from biomarker testing could indicate cases of under‐ as well as over‐reporting of alcohol consumption. Further research on the diagnostic accuracy of direct ethanol metabolites, including the use of phosphatidylethanol (PEth), in this setting is needed.