Carbohydrate-deficient Transferrin as a Marker of Heavy Drinking in Korean Males

Abstract

This study was performed to evaluate the usefulness of carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) as a marker of heavy drinking in Korean males. The subjects (143 Korean males) were classified into 2 groups according to the amount of drinking, moderate drinkers (72 individuals) who drank 14 drinks or less per week and heavy drinkers (71 individuals) who drank more than 14 drinks per week. Using %CDT, gamma glutamyl transferase (GGT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) as clinical markers for heavy drinking, sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values were investigated. Sensitivities of %CDT, GGT, AST, and ALT were 83.1%, 67.6%, 52.1% and 46.5%, respectively. Specificities were 63.9%, 45.8%, 72.2%, and 54.2%, respectively. Positive predictive values were 69.4%, 55.2%, 64.9%, and 50.0% respectively. Negative predictive values were 79.3%, 58.9%, 60.5%, and 50.6% respectively. The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve (95% confidence interval) for %CDT, GGT, AST, and ALT were 0.823 (0.755-0.891), 0.578 (0.484-0.673), 0.622 (0.528-0.717), and 0.516 (0.420-0.613), respectively. CDT is considered as the most reliable marker for detecting heavy drinking in Korean males.

Relationships between the Level of Alcohol Consumption and Abnormality in Biomarkers According to Facial Flushing in Korean Male Drinkers

“…The reference values of %CDT were recommended as 1.19 to 2.47 by a study that targeted 561 healthy adults in whom an elevated level of alcohol consumption had been excluded 13). The usefulness of %CDT among Korean males has already been studied 14). The level of rGTP was measured through TBA-200FR NEO (Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan), with the reference values of 0 to 50 U/L in males recommended by the department of laboratory medicine of Chungnam National University Hospital.…”

Novel Objective Biomarkers of Alcohol Use: Potential Diagnostic and Treatment Management Tools in Dual Diagnosis Care

“…5-HTOL does not appear to be influenced by ethnicity (Beck & Helander, 2003). CDT does not appear to differ significantly among African American, Puerto Rican, Korean, or South Asian groups (Behrens et al, 1988; Kim et al, 2007; Wickramasinghe, Corridan, Izaguirre, Hasan, & Marjot, 1995). An epidemiologic study of 1,400 Australian adults that examined the frequency of false-positive CDT variants reported a frequency of 1% false-positive of the CDTect test (a method that measures asialotransferrin, monosialotransferrin, and disialotransferrin) due to genetic variants (Whitfield et al, 1998).…”

Carbohydrate-Deficient Transferrin (CDT) as a Biomarker of Alcohol Abuse: A Retrospective Study of the Italian Drinking Trend among Drivers from 2016 to 2022

“…In recent years, many studies have been published to evaluate the utility of CDT in the diagnosis of alcohol abuse in different countries, compared with other biological markers (gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and mean cell volume of erythrocytes (MCV)) [12][13][14][15]. The highest sensitivity and specificity of CDT in alcohol-dependent people, 84% and 92%, respectively, were achieved in an Indian population of 25 males with diagnosed heavy alcohol consumption who attended the outpatient department (OPD) of an alcohol de-addiction center of a tertiary care hospital [7,16].…”