Ability of biochemical markers to detect alcohol use
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The performance of biochemical markers of alcohol use including carbohydrate deficient transferrin, ethyl glucuronide and ethyl sulphate to detect alcohol ingestion in clients in a community alcohol treatment programme.
IRAS ID
129584
Contact name
Jane Armer
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Research summary
Nationally only around 35% of people with alcohol dependence who start alcohol recovery treatment successfully complete their treatment. In Lancashire, the Alcohol Recovery Service Team provide a structured community based 12 week care plan for alcohol dependent clients (who usually refer themselves). During treatment, clients usually visit the team every week, complete a diary of alcohol intake and have regular breathalyser tests. The problem with a breathalyser test is that it is only positive if the client has consumed alcohol in the last few hours. Therefore, deciding whether a client is still drinking alcohol during treatment is difficult. If a client is found to be drinking, early intervention and altered treatment strategies are required.
There are a number of available markers of alcohol use which could aid the detection of alcohol intake in this group of clients (urine ethanol, Gamma-Glutamyl Transferase (GGT), Alanine Transaminase (ALT), Aspartate Transaminase (AST), Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV), Ethyl Glucuronide (EtG), Ethyl Sulphate (EtS) and Carbohydrate Deficient Transferrin (CDT). Better detection of alcohol use during treatment could lead to better patient management which in turn could increase the numbers of clients successfully completing treatment.
There are two parts to this study:
Part 1 is to develop new laboratory methods for EtG, EtS and CDT using samples from patients who attend Blood Test Clinic and have not consumed any alcohol for at least 2 weeks.Part 2 is to measure 9 markers of alcohol intake in clients attending an alcohol recovery treatment programme. The clients will be asked to complete a diary of alcohol intake. In weeks 1,4,8 and 12 of the 12 week treatment programme,blood and urine samples will be collected. A breathalyser test will also be performed. We will look at each result and combinations of results and compare these to the alcohol diary.
REC name
North West - Preston Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
13/NW/0551
Date of REC Opinion
30 Jul 2013
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion