Investigating the use of PEth, CDT and MCV to evaluate alcohol consumption in a cohort of homeless individuals– A comparison of different alcohol biomarkers

• Published in: Forensic science international 2022-02, Vol.331, p.111147-111147, Article 111147
• Main Authors: Aboutara, Nadine, Müller, Alexander, Jungen, Hilke, Szewczyk, Anne, van Rüth, Victoria, Bertram, Franziska, Püschel, Klaus, Heinrich, Fabian, Iwersen-Bergmann, Stefanie
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alcohol; Alcohol biomarker; Alcohol consumption; Alcohol Drinking; Alcohol use; Alcoholism; Alcohols; Biomarkers; Blood alcohol concentration; Blood Alcohol Content; Blood levels; Carbohydrate-deficient transferrin; Carbohydrates; Correlation coefficient; Correlation coefficients; Erythrocyte Indices; Ethanol; Fatty acids; Forensic chemistry; Forensic sciences; Homeless individuals; Homeless people; Homeless Persons; Homelessness; Humans; Ingestion; Phosphatidylethanol; Questionnaires; Transferrin; Transferrin - analogs & derivatives; Transferrin - analysis; Transferrins
• ISSN: 0379-0738; 1872-6283
• DOI: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2021.111147

In a cohort including individuals with suspected high alcohol consumption, the concentrations of the indirect alcohol biomarkers carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) and mean corpuscular volume (MCV) and the direct alcohol biomarker phosphatidylethanol (PEth) were investigated. Blood alcohol concentration (BAC) was analysed as a marker for acute alcohol ingestion. In addition to questions about subjective alcohol consumption behaviour, 147 homeless persons underwent a physical examination with blood sampling. BAC, PEth, CDT and MCV were determined in the blood samples. Special focus was on the comparison of PEth and CDT for indicating excessive alcohol consumption. BAC was measured above 0.1‰ in 39 blood samples (0.1–2.5‰, median 0.75‰). PEth was detected in all of them. Overall, PEth was positive (≥10 ng/ml) in 104 samples (71%) (11–5687 ng/ml, median 650 ng/ml) with 68 (46%) being above the cut-off for excessive alcohol consumption (210 ng/ml). In 26 subjects PEth was the only positive alcohol biomarker. CDT was ≥ 1.7% in 66 cases (47%) (1.8–22.2%, median 4.4%) and ≥ 2.5% in 52 (35%) cases. MCV was elevated (≥95 fl) in 58 subjects (39%). CDT and PEth concentrations showed a significant positive correlation (spearman's correlation coefficient ρ = 0.77, p