ArticlesCarbohydrate-Deficient Transferrin as Compared to Other Markers of Alcoholism: A Systematic Review
Section snippets
Systematic Search
Medline database from 1966 to November 1998 was searched by using following search terms: carbohydrate-deficient transferrin, desialotransferrin and transferrin combined with desialylated, microheterogenity, heterogenity, and variant. Only the studies in which CDT was compared either to the conventional or new biological markers of alcoholism, heavy drinking, or alcohol use were selected for further evaluation.
Results
By using the above mentioned search terms, 225 papers could be found from Medline. Altogether, 172 of these studies; for example, review articles (n = 28) and letters (n = 14), were excluded. Methodological studies comparing different analytical methods and other characteristics; that is, the use of the tests (n = 47) were also excluded. Also excluded were 27 papers dealing with the biochemistry of CDT or with some rare hereditary diseases. In 11 excluded papers, the usefulness of CDT as an
Discussion
Altogether, 54 studies were selected from Medline data base for a comparative analysis in which carbohydrate-deficient transferrin was compared to the conventional or new laboratory markers of alcoholism and heavy drinking. Two prospective studies indicate that in men CDT is slightly more sensitive than γ-GT in reflecting changes in these markers caused by drinking of a moderate and fixed amount of alcohol during three to four weeks. Moreover, when the drinking history of male heavy drinking
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