Test identifies dry alcoholics

Press, 28 January 1988, Page 16

Test identifies dry alcoholics

By

DANIEL HANEY

NZPA-AP Boston Researchers have found a new blood test which can identify alcoholics even when they have not had a drink for several years. Experts say the test could become an important means of spotting alcoholism early so it can be treated before permanent damage occurs. It might even give doctors a way to spot children who are at high risk of becoming alcoholics when they grow up. But the researchers said further study was necessary to determine whether the differences they found occurred only after years of alcohol abuse or reflected some inherited difference in the biological make-up of alcoholics. The researchers said their test, which measures two blood chemicals, was about 75 per cent accurate in distinguishing alcoholics from people who do not have drinking problems. The study may simply provide a means for distinguishing individuals who drink a lot, said Dr Boris Tabakoff. Dr Tabakoff said it was imperative for physicians to know whether problems may be alcohol-re-lated as it was difficult to get a very accurate consumption history from individuals.

On the other hand, he continued, it might be more profound. It might indicate individuals who have an inherent predisposition to have problems with alcohol. Alcoholism is sometimes passed from generation to generation. Dr Tabakoff has begun studying children of alcoholics to see if they are more likely to have the abnormalities measured by the blood test. ■ If so, the test could be used to identify these children early so they could be taught to avoid alcohol. Dr Tabakoff, a researcher at the-National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, developed the test with colleagues from the University of Illinois at Chicago and the Westside Veterans Administration Medical Centre in Chicago. A report on the work was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Between 8 and 10 per cent of all men and between 1 and 2 per cent of all women in the United States are estimated to abuse alcohol. The new test measures the activity of two chemicals produced by platelets, the blood cells responsible for clotting. The substances are enzymes called monoamine oxidase and adenylate cyclase. The researchers tested the blood of 95 male

alcoholics and a comparison group of 33 people who did not have drinking problems. They found that the activity of the two enzymes was significantly reduced in alcoholics. The differences were even apparent in 10 alcoholics who had not taken a drink for periods ranging from one to four years. In an editorial in the journal, Dr Theodore Reich, of The Jewish Hospital of St Louis, said the measurements held a lot promise for detecting alcoholism. Taken together, these abnormalities had many of the characteristics of ideal biological markers for alcoholism and certainly warranted extensive investigation, he wrote. Experts have come up with other measurable differences that can distinguish alcoholics. However, none of them is good enough to be used alone, so they require a time-consuming battery of tests. Those tests also may mistake other diseases for alcoholism. The new test correctly classified 75 per cent of the alcoholics and 73 per cent of the comparison group. Dr Tabakoff said the enzyme abnormalities might affect blood clotting and this could help explain why alcoholics were more likely to suffer strokes and heart disease.