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Biological State Marker for Alcohol Consumption

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Textbook of Addiction Treatment

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Abstract

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.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Medical Faculty, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland

    Friedrich Martin Wurst

  2. Psychiatric University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland

    Friedrich Martin Wurst

  3. Addictions Unit, Department of Psychiatry, University of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain

    Pablo Barrio & Antoni Gual

  4. Neurosciences Institute, Hospital Clínic, IDIBAPS, Barcelona, Spain

    Antoni Gual

  5. IDIBAPS Neurosciences Institute, Barcelona, Spain

    Natasha Thon

  6. Institute of Legal Forensic Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland

    Wolfgang Weinmann & Frederike Stöth

  7. Laboratoire National de Santé, Forensic Toxicology, Dudelange, Luxemburg

    Michel Yegles

  8. Klinik am Homberg, Bad Wildungen, Germany

    Jessica Wong

  9. Vitos Hospital for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Kassel, Germany

    Ulrich W. Preuss

  10. Department for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic Medicine, University of Halle, Halle, Germany

    Ulrich W. Preuss

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Addiction Department of Psychiatry, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada

    Nady el-Guebaly

  2. Mental Health Department, University of Milano-Bicocca, Monza, Monza e Brianza, Italy

    Giuseppe Carrà

  3. Division of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Department of Psychiatry, NYU School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA

    Marc Galanter

  4. Population and Behavioural Science Division (Psychiatry and Addictions), University of St Andrews, St.Andrews, UK

    Alexander M. Baldacchino

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Wurst, F.M. et al. (2021). Biological State Marker for Alcohol Consumption. In: el-Guebaly, N., Carrà, G., Galanter, M., Baldacchino, A.M. (eds) Textbook of Addiction Treatment. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36391-8_42

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