Are laboratory tests available to screen for or monitor alcohol problems?
For screening purposes in primary care settings, interviews and questionnaires have greater sensitivity and specificity than blood tests for biochemical markers, which identify only about 10 to 30 percent of heavy drinkers. Nevertheless, biochemical markers may be useful when heavy drinking is suspected but the patient denies it. The most sensitive and widely available test for this purpose is the serum gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT) assay. It isn’t very specific, however, so reasons for GGT elevation other than excessive alcohol use need to be eliminated. If elevated at baseline, GGT and other transaminases may also be helpful in monitoring progress and identifying relapse, and serial values can provide valuable feedback to patients after an intervention. Other blood tests include the mean corpuscular volume (MCV) of red blood cells, which is often elevated in people with alcohol dependence, and the carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) assay.
For screening purposes in primary care settings, interviews and questionnaires have greater sensitivity and specificity than blood tests for biochemical markers, which identify only about 10 to 30 percent of heavy drinkers.39,40 Nevertheless, biochemical markers may be useful when heavy drinking is suspected but the patient denies it. The most sensitive and widely available test for this purpose is the serum gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT) assay. It isn’t very specific, however, so reasons for GGT elevation other than excessive alcohol use need to be eliminated. If elevated at baseline, GGT and other transaminases may also be helpful in monitoring progress and identifying relapse, and serial values can provide valuable feedback to patients after an intervention. Other blood tests include the mean corpuscular volume (MCV) of red blood cells, which is often elevated in people with alcohol dependence, and the carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) assay. The CDT assay is about as sensi
