Bournemouth University, Faculty of Science and Technology, Talbot Campus, Fern Barrow, Poole, UK.
Cansford Laboratories, Pentwyn Business Centre, 1A Wharfedale Road, Cardiff, UK.
Alcohol Alcohol. 2019 Jul 1;54(4):402-407. doi: 10.1093/alcalc/agz015.
This work aimed to assess the performance of hair and fingernail ethyl glucuronide (EtG) measurement for use as a biomarker of alcohol consumption in persons with known drinking history across a range of drinking behaviours.
EtG concentrations were assessed from the hair and fingernails of 50 study participants. Alcohol consumption of the previous 90 days was assessed by participant interview using the alcohol timeline follow-back method. EtG concentration was determined using LC-MS-MS using a method which was validated and accredited to ISO/IEC 17025 standards.
There was significant correlation between alcohol consumption and EtG concentrations found in hair and fingernail samples across the study group (n = 50). From participants testing positive for EtG (male n = 14, female n = 13) no significant difference was found between male and female EtG levels in either hair or fingernails. Across all participants there was no significant difference in hair or fingernail EtG concentration between male (n = 23) and females (n = 27).
Our results support the use of EtG to indicate alcohol consumption over the previous 90 days, or ~3 months as is the normal practice in hair analysis. The results confirm that fingernails can be a useful alternative matrix where hair samples are not available.
本研究旨在评估毛发和指甲中乙基葡萄糖醛酸苷（EtG）作为具有已知饮酒史人群的生物标志物，用于检测不同饮酒行为下的酒精摄入情况。
对 50 名研究参与者的毛发和指甲中的 EtG 浓度进行评估。使用酒精时间线回溯法，通过参与者访谈评估过去 90 天的饮酒情况。使用经过验证并符合 ISO/IEC 17025 标准的 LC-MS-MS 方法测定 EtG 浓度。
在整个研究组（n = 50）中，毛发和指甲样本中的 EtG 浓度与酒精摄入量之间存在显著相关性。在毛发和指甲样本中，检测到 EtG 阳性的参与者（男性 n = 14，女性 n = 13）中，男性和女性的 EtG 水平无显著差异。在所有参与者中，男性（n = 23）和女性（n = 27）的毛发或指甲中的 EtG 浓度无显著差异。
我们的研究结果支持使用 EtG 来指示过去 90 天内的酒精摄入情况，即毛发分析中通常的 3 个月。结果证实，指甲可以作为毛发样本不可用时的有用替代基质。
