Smoking, obesity, and hypertension alter the dose-response curve and test sensitivity of carbohydrate-deficient transferrin as a marker of alcohol intake.

Serum carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) is a specific and comparatively sensitive marker of excessive alcohol use; however, reports of its sensitivity vary according to the population or patient groups studied and their average alcohol intake. We have characterized the dose-response curve between alcohol intake and CDT concentrations in a study of 1400 men and women from a community-based twin registry. Our results show that mean CDT increases with increasing reported alcohol consumption even within the range of alcohol use considered to be nonhazardous. We found significant effects of sex, age, smoking, previous alcohol dependence, body mass index, and diastolic hypertension on the alcohol-CDT dose-response curve. These variables either affect test sensitivity or require adjustment of reference intervals. The results also provide insight into the physiological and biochemical factors that affect CDT concentration.