Sensitivity and specificity of ADH as a biochemical marker in alcohol- dependence: Indian context

A variety of laboratory tests are available to assist in the diagnosis of alcoholism and related disorders. Alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), being the rate-limiting enzyme in alcohol metabolism, has been used in the present study to assess its sensitivity and specificity with respect to other liver enzymes. Fifty-two alcohol-dependent subjects were studied along with 52 normal healthy controls for liver function tests (GGT, GPT, GOT and ADH). Discriminative analysis using the BMDP program showed that the sensitivity range of the liver enzymes was between 60-70% when compared with specificity range of 85-100%. On performance measures using GGT as a standard, ADH was found to have good sensitivity, but poor specificity. Thus, ADH alone cannot be used as a biochemical marker of alcoholism.