Concentrations of carbohydrate-deficient transferrin in dialysed plasma from drunken drivers.

Serum carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) has previously been found to be a sensitive and specific biological marker of excessive alcohol consumption. In order to study the prevalence of excessive drinking among arrested drunken drivers, CDT was measured in plasma samples from 50 drunken drivers after dialysis against 0.9% NaCl. 60% of the drivers had elevated CDT. When data on CDT from other studies were used to interpret our CDT results, it was estimated that at least 60% of the drunken drivers were consuming at least 50 g pure alcohol per day. Drunken drivers involved in road traffic accidents tended to have higher CDT values than other drunken drivers, indicating a higher alcohol consumption, while drivers below 30 years of age had lower CDT values than older ones.