A study of three groups of urban men from the general population with different alcohol habits and drug use and their serum levels of liver-related enzymes and haematological variables.

A sample of 200 men from the general population was investigated concerning alcohol consumption in relation to laboratory findings. The relation between symptoms of alcoholism (subjective relative loss of control over drinking, blackouts and morning drinks) and the alcohol consumption was also studied. The subjects were divided into three groups: (1) a group with low alcohol consumption without symptoms of alcoholism, (II) an intermediate group with low, moderate or high alcohol consumption and one or more alcohol symptoms and (III) a heavy-drinking group with two or more symptoms. The heavy-drinking group had significantly higher serum bilirubin, aspartate amino-transferase (ASAT), creatine kinase and lactate dehydrogenase values than the other two groups. Gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) showed no relation to alcohol consumption. The use of liver-metabolized drugs was investigated. Ten of the 53 heavy drinkers were taking such drugs, because of illness, and the other 43 were not. The heavy drinkers taking drugs showed pathological laboratory values throughout, in contrast to the subjects of the other subgroups. Serum GGT was high in the drug-using groups but was not significantly elevated in the groups taking only alcohol and no drugs.