Romppanen Jarkko, Punnonen Kari, Anttila Petra, Jakobsson Tuula, Blake Joan, Niemelä Onni
Department of Clinical Chemistry and Hematology, Kuopio University Hospital, 70211 Kuopio, Finland.
Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2002 Aug;26(8):1234-8. doi: 10.1097/01.ALC.0000025887.70136.4E.
Serum sialic acid (SA) has been suggested as a new marker of alcohol consumption. There are, however, only a few studies on the clinical value of such measurements. The relationship between serum SA and liver disease is also unknown.
We determined serum SA concentrations in a sample of 51 alcoholics and 20 healthy controls by using high-performance liquid chromatography with an anion-exchange column and pulsed amperometric detection. The alcoholic sample included 32 patients with liver disease, the severity of which was assessed by previously established combined clinical, laboratory, and morphological indices. In addition, there were 19 heavy drinkers without significant liver disease despite a well documented history of excessive alcohol consumption.
The (mean +/- SD) SA concentrations (1.449 +/- 0.3019 mmol/liter) were significantly higher in the alcoholics than in the healthy controls (1.154 +/- 0.1702 mmol/liter). With the optimal cutoff limit for serum SA (1.425 mmol/liter), a specificity of 1.00 and sensitivity of 0.51 were obtained. The diagnostic accuracy of serum SA according to receiver operating characteristic analysis was good, with the area under the curve being 0.805 (0.052). Unlike the traditional serum markers of alcohol consumption (gamma-glutamyl transferase, carbohydrate-deficient transferrin, and aspartate amino transferase), serum SA was not found to be different between the alcoholics with or without liver disease.
Our study suggests that serum SA is a sensitive marker of excessive alcohol consumption. Such measurements may also prove to be of value in conditions in which the results of the traditional markers reflect the severity of liver disease rather than alcohol consumption.
血清唾液酸（SA）已被提议作为酒精摄入量的一种新标志物。然而，关于此类测量的临床价值的研究仅有少数。血清SA与肝脏疾病之间的关系也尚不清楚。
我们采用配备阴离子交换柱和脉冲安培检测的高效液相色谱法，测定了51名酗酒者和20名健康对照者样本中的血清SA浓度。酗酒者样本包括32例患有肝脏疾病的患者，其疾病严重程度通过先前确立的综合临床、实验室和形态学指标进行评估。此外，有19名重度饮酒者，尽管有充分记录的过量饮酒史，但无明显肝脏疾病。
酗酒者的（均值±标准差）SA浓度（1.449±0.3019毫摩尔/升）显著高于健康对照者（1.154±0.1702毫摩尔/升）。血清SA的最佳截断值为1.425毫摩尔/升时，特异性为1.00，敏感性为0.51。根据受试者工作特征分析，血清SA的诊断准确性良好，曲线下面积为0.805（0.052）。与传统酒精摄入量血清标志物（γ-谷氨酰转移酶、缺糖转铁蛋白和天冬氨酸氨基转移酶）不同，有或无肝脏疾病的酗酒者之间血清SA无差异。
我们的研究表明血清SA是过量饮酒的一个敏感标志物。在传统标志物结果反映肝脏疾病严重程度而非酒精摄入量的情况下，此类测量可能也具有价值。
