Relationship between carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) and severity of alcohol withdrawal in alcohol use disorders

Objective: Carbohydrate-Deficient Transferrin (CDT) is a biomarker, which is more specific and sensitive than the traditional markers for screening alcohol-use disorders and is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). We aimed to evaluate the correlation between CDT and severity of alcohol withdrawal and to compare CDT with other markers such as gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT) and mean corpuscular volume (MCV). Methods: A total of 48 male subjects were enrolled in the study. The patients were evaluated with socio-demographic data form and the revised Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment for Alcohol scale (CIWA-AR). CDT, GGT and MCV values were measured at admission to the hospital. SPSS version 13.0 was used for evaluation of data. Results: CDT, GGT and MCV values were found to be high in 77.1%, 72% and 66.6% of patients, respectively. There was a statistically significant correlation between CDT and CIWA-AR scores, but there was no correlation of CIWA-AR with GGT and MCV. Conclusion: The individuals with high CDT values might be regarded as having a more serious withdrawal syndrome. However, controlled studies with larger number of subjects are needed to further analyze these results. © Archives of Neuropsychiatry, published by Galenos Publishing.