Is carbohydrate-deficient transferrin in serum useful for detecting excessive alcohol consumption in hypertensive patients?

The aim of this study was to examine the diagnostic usefulness of carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) in serum in a cross-sectional study of 439 treated hypertensive men. We related the results to alcohol intake by questionnaire and to biochemical and hemodynamic measurements known to reflect excessive alcohol consumption. The diagnostic sensitivity and the specificity for high alcohol intake (> or = 24 g/day of ethanol) were 44% and 87%, respectively. The group with reported high alcohol intake (n = 32) was characterized by hemodynamic and biochemical changes typical of alcohol abuse. The corresponding profile for the patients with increased serum CDT concentrations (n = 70) was different in several respects, indicating a considerable number of false-positive tests. We conclude that serum CDT determination had low sensitivity and specificity for excessive alcohol consumption in this group of hypertensive patients. The results illustrate the importance of evaluating new laboratory methods in unselected patient populations before drawing any conclusions about their clinical value.