Ethyl glucuronide in hair. A sensitive and specific marker of chronic heavy drinking

  1. Luca Morini1,*,
  2. Lucia Politi2,
  3. Aldo Polettini3

Article first published online: 9 APR 2009

DOI: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2009.02535.x

Issue

Addiction

Addiction

Volume 104, Issue 6, pages 915–920, June 2009

Additional Information

How to Cite

Morini, L., Politi, L. and Polettini, A. (2009), Ethyl glucuronide in hair. A sensitive and specific marker of chronic heavy drinking. Addiction, 104: 915–920. doi: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2009.02535.x

Author Information

  1. 1

    Department of Legal Medicine and Public Health, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy,

  2. 2

    Department of Anatomy, Histology, and Legal Medicine, University of Florence, Florence, Italy

  3. 3

    and Department of Medicine and Public Health, University of Verona, Verona, Italy

*Luca Morini, Department of Legal Medicine and Public Health, Via Forlanini, 12 I-27100 Pavia, Italy. E-mail: luca.morini@unipv.it

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 6 MAY 2009
  2. Article first published online: 9 APR 2009
  3. Submitted 1 September 2008; initial review completed 5 December 2008; final version accepted 9 January 2009

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Keywords:

  • Alcohol;
  • alcoholism;
  • hair ethyl glucuronide;
  • sensitivity and specificity

ABSTRACT

Aims  This study aims to define a cut-off concentration for ethyl glucuronide in hair to determine if there was a history of heavy drinking.

Settings  Pavia, Italy.

Participants  We analysed hair samples from 98 volunteers among teetotallers, social drinkers and heavy drinkers, whose ethanol daily intake (EDI) was estimated by means of a written questionnaire.

Measurements  Ethyl glucuronide hair concentration (HEtG) was measured by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (lower limit of quantification: 3 pg/mg) using a fully validated method.

Findings  The HEtG level providing the best compromise between sensitivity (0.92) and specificity (0.96) at detecting an EDI of 60 g or higher during the last 3 months was 27 pg/mg. None of the factors examined among those known to affect ethanol metabolism and/or the diagnostic power of other markers of ethanol use or hair analyses, including age, gender, body mass index, tobacco smoke, prevalent beverage, hair colour, cosmetic treatments and hygienic habits was found to influence marker performance significantly. However, the slight differences in HEtG performance observed for some factors (e.g. body mass index, smoke and hair treatments) require further studies on larger groups of individuals in order to assess their influence more precisely.

Conclusions  Our results confirm further that HEtG is a sensitive and specific marker of chronic heavy drinking.

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