Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33190239›Full record

SynthesisAlcoholism, clinical and experimental research2021

Diagnostic Accuracy of Biomarkers of Alcohol Use in Patients With Liver Disease: A Systematic Review.

Janique Arnts, Benedict T K Vanlerberghe, Sylvia Roozen, Cleo L Crunelle, Ad A M Masclee, Steven W M Olde-Damink, Ron M A Heeren, Alexander van Nuijs, Hugo Neels, Frederik Nevens and 1 more

Open access · hybridAbstract readSystematic Review
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
24citing papers in PubMed
3.6field-weighted citation impact, top 6% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

24 citing papers in PubMed, 51 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

  • Commented on by
    2021
5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors at 5 institutions in 3 countries.

Janique ArntsFrom the, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, (JA, BTKV, AAMM), Department of Internal Medicine, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Benedict T K VanlerbergheFrom the, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, (JA, BTKV, AAMM), Department of Internal Medicine, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0002-4665-2042
Sylvia RoozenGovernor Kremers Centre-Maastricht University Medical Centre, (SR), Maastricht, The Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0002-0118-5882
Cleo L CrunelleDepartment of Psychiatry, (CLC), Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel (UZ Brussel), Brussels, Belgium.
Ad A M MascleeFrom the, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, (JA, BTKV, AAMM), Department of Internal Medicine, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Steven W M Olde-DaminkNUTRIM School of Nutrition and Translational Research in Metabolism, (AAMM, SWMO-D), Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Ron M A HeerenDivision of Imaging Mass Spectrometry, (RMAH), Maastricht MultiModal Molecular Imaging (M4I) Institute, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Alexander van NuijsToxicological Center, (CLC, AN, HN), University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
Hugo NeelsToxicological Center, (CLC, AN, HN), University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
Frederik NevensDepartment of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, (FN, JV), University Hospitals KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
Jef VerbeekDepartment of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, (FN, JV), University Hospitals KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
Maastricht University · NLKU Leuven · BEUniversity of Antwerp · BEMaastricht University Medical Centre · NLVrije Universiteit Brussel · BE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND

aimsAlcohol-related liver disease is the most frequent cause of cirrhosis and a major indication for liver transplantation. Several alcohol use biomarkers have been developed in recent years and are already in use in several centers. However, in patients with liver disease their diagnostic performance might be influenced by altered biomarker formation by hepatic damage, altered excretion by kidney dysfunction and diuretics use, and altered deposition in hair and nails. We systematically reviewed studies on the diagnostic accuracy of biomarkers of alcohol use in patients with liver disease and performed a detailed study quality assessment.

methodsA structured search in PubMed/Medline/Embase databases was performed for relevant studies, published until April 28, 2019. The risk of bias and applicability concerns was assessed according to the adapted quality assessment of diagnostic accuracy studies-2 (QUADAS-2) checklist.

resultsTwelve out of 6,449 studies met inclusion criteria. Urinary ethyl glucuronide and urinary ethyl sulfate showed high sensitivity (70 to 89 and 73 to 82%, respectively) and specificity (93 to 99 and 86 to 89%, respectively) for assessing any amount of alcohol use in the past days. Serum carbohydrate-deficient transferrin showed low sensitivity but higher specificity (40 to 79 and 57 to 99%, respectively) to detect excessive alcohol use in the past weeks. Whole blood phosphatidylethanol showed high sensitivity and specificity (73 to 100 and 90 to 96%, respectively) to detect any amount of alcohol use in the previous weeks. Scalp hair ethyl glucuronide showed high sensitivity (85 to 100%) and specificity (97 to 100%) for detecting chronic excessive alcohol use in the past 3 to 6 months. Main limitations of the current evidence are the lack of an absolute gold standard to assess alcohol use, heterogeneous study populations, and the paucity of studies.

conclusionsUrinary and scalp hair ethyl glucuronide are currently the most validated alcohol use biomarkers in patients with liver disease with good diagnostic accuracies. Phosphatidylethanol is a highly promising alcohol use biomarker, but so far less validated in liver patients. Alcohol use biomarkers can complement each other regarding diagnostic time window. More validation studies on alcohol use biomarkers in patients with liver disease are needed.

Indexed as

Alcohol DrinkingBiomarkersHumansLiver DiseasesPredictive Value of TestsTime FactorsBiomarkersAlcohol Use BiomarkersDiagnostic AccuracyLiver Disease

Identifiers

PMID33190239
PMCPMC7898850
OpenAlexW3103261757

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.