Phospholipids as Biomarkers for Excessive Alcohol Use

Abstract : The study is designed to evaluate the utility of levels of two phospholipids in serum as a marker of past drinking behavior across month-level time horizons, in an attempt to improve ability to measure alcohol quantity consumed and associated damage better than can be done with ethyl alcohol level measures and other existing tests that only measure very recent exposure and poorly reflect quantity consumed. This will be achieved by correlating detailed questionnaire data on alcohol consumption with serum phospholipid levels in subjects not selected for alcohol abuse (part I) and subjects under alcohol abuse treatment (part II). The Department of Defense-funded study will conduct Part I at the VA hospital and Part II at the Fairbanks treatment facility. Part I involves a single study session (n=280), while Part II will involve serial blood draws and phospholipid measures at several treatment visits (n=60). The study is open to 280 subjects for Part I, and 60 subjects for part II. Part I has 179 consented, and 18 screen fails; Part II has 33 consented (one withdrew from the study) and 8 screen fails. The study is currently active and analysis has not been completed. Since the inception of the study, we have not experienced any problems with subjects recruitment. To date, we have recruited 197 subjects into Part I of the study and 41 subjects into part II.