Biological State Marker for Alcohol Consumption

Alcohol-related disorders are common, expensive in their entire course, and often underdiagnosed. To facilitate early diagnosis and therapy of alcohol-related disorders and thus prevent later complications, questionnaires and biomarkers are useful. Indirect state markers such as gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), and carbohydrate deficiency transferrin (CDT) are influenced by age, gender, various substances, and nonalcohol-related illnesses and do not cover the entire timeline for alcohol consumption. Direct state markers such as ethyl glucuronide (EtG), phosphatidylethanol (PEth), and fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEEs) have gained enormous interest in the last decades, as they are metabolites of alcohol becoming only positive in the presence of alcohol. As biomarkers with high sensitivity and specificity covering the complimentary timeline, they are already routinely in use and contribute to new perspectives in prevention, interdisciplinary cooperation, diagnosis, and therapy of alcohol-related disorders.