Ethanol Metabolites: Their Role in the Assessment of Alcohol Intake

Background Alcohol‐related disorders are common, expensive in their course, and often underdiagnosed. To facilitate early diagnosis and therapy of alcohol‐related disorders and to prevent later complications, questionnaires and biomarkers are useful. Methods Indirect state markers like gamma‐glutamy...

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Published in:Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research clinical and experimental research, 2015-11, Vol.39 (11), p.2060-2072
Main Authors: Wurst, Friedrich M., Thon, Natasha, Yegles, Michel, Schrück, Alexandra, Preuss, Ulrich W., Weinmann, Wolfgang
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alcohol Drinking - metabolism
Alcohol Intake
Alcohol use
Alcoholism - diagnosis
Alcoholism - metabolism
Animals
Biomarkers - metabolism
Ethanol Metabolites
Ethyl Glucuronide
Ethyl Sulfate
Fatty Acid Ethyl Esters
gamma-Glutamyltransferase - metabolism
Glucuronates - metabolism
Humans
Metabolites
Phosphatidylethanol
Substance Abuse Detection - methods
Tissue Distribution - physiology
Transferrin - analogs & derivatives
Transferrin - metabolism
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Summary:Background Alcohol‐related disorders are common, expensive in their course, and often underdiagnosed. To facilitate early diagnosis and therapy of alcohol‐related disorders and to prevent later complications, questionnaires and biomarkers are useful. Methods Indirect state markers like gamma‐glutamyl‐transpeptidase, mean corpuscular volume, and carbohydrate deficient transferrin are influenced by age, gender, various substances, and nonalcohol‐related illnesses, and do not cover the entire timeline for alcohol consumption. Ethanol (EtOH) metabolites, such as ethyl glucuronide, ethyl sulfate, phosphatidylethanol, and fatty acid ethyl esters have gained enormous interest in the last decades as they are detectable after EtOH intake. Results For each biomarker, pharmacological characteristics, detection methods in different body tissues, sensitivity/specificity values, cutoff values, time frames of detection, and general limitations are presented. Another focus of the review is the use of the markers in special clinical and forensic samples. Conclusions Depending on the biological material used for analysis, ethanol metabolites can be applied in different settings such as assessment of alcohol intake, screening, prevention, diagnosis, and therapy of alcohol use disorders.
ISSN:0145-6008
1530-0277
DOI:10.1111/acer.12851