Biochemical markers of alcoholism and their clinical effectiveness

Alcohol consumption has increased in England over the last forty years and this has been associated with a rise in alcohol related health and social problems. Excessive alcohol consumption has an important effect on individuals and society, in addition is leading to a huge financial burden upon the National Health Service. This review looks at the need for accurate diagnosis of individuals as risk of developing alcohol related disease due to excess alcohol consumption. The biochemical markers currently available to health care professionals will be discussed and future markers currently being tested experimentally will also be highlighted upon. In current practice blood alcohol, mean corpuscular cell volume, gamma-glutamyl transferase, serum aminotransferases and carbohydrate deficient transferrin are used. In addition the combined use of clinical questionnaires and biochemical markers are discussed. Currently there are no perfect clinical markers available to diagnose excess alcohol consumption; however, further markers are being evaluated.