Hangover Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Hangover, including details on alcohol, treatment, drugs, effects. | ||||||||
|
Fatty Acid ethyl esters: quantitative biomarkers for maternal alcohol consumption.Bearer CF, Santiago LM, O'Riordan MA, Buck K, Lee SC, Singer LT Department of Pediatrics, Case Western Reserve University, School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio, USA. cynthia.bearer@case.edu OBJECTIVE: To develop a laboratory marker to identify newborns exposed to alcohol. STUDY DESIGN: Meconium was collected from 30 infants from Jordan who were unexposed and from 248 Cleveland study infants of varying exposure status. Retrospective maternal alcohol histories were obtained. Fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEEs) were quantified with gas chromatography/flame ionization and compared between abstainers and non-abstainers to identify FAEEs of interest. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values were calculated by using definitions of drinking obtained from a graphical representation. RESULTS: Six of 7 FAEEs were significantly different between the non-abstainers and at least 1 of 2 of the abstaining groups. FAEEs best predicted drinks per drinking day, and ethyl linoleate had the greatest area under the curve (76%), with a sensitivity rate of 88%, a specificity rate of 64%, a positive predictive value of 9%, and a negative predictive value of 99%. No combination of FAEEs was better than a single ester for identifying drinkers. CONCLUSION: Ethyl linoleate in meconium is a useful biological marker for identifying infants not exposed in utero to high levels of alcohol in a high-risk, substance-abusing, clinic-based sample. Published 23 June 2005 in J Pediatr, 146(6): 824-30.
© 2004-2008 Hangover Research Today. All Rights Reserved. |
| ||||||
