The Activity of β-Hexosaminidase (uHex) and γ-Glutamyl-Transferase (uGGT) in Urine as Non-Invasive Markers of Chronic Alcohol Abuse: I. Alcohol-Dependent Subjects

Abstract

It has been demonstrated that in alcohol-dependent men the uHex test is one of the most powerful discriminating tools, while uGGT has a discriminating power similar to that of sHex but worse than that of uHex, sGGT and s%CDT. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) areas under the curves (AUC) for uHex, uGGT, s%CDT, sHex and sGGT were 0.92, 0.79, 0.88, 0.79 and 0.92, respectively. Due to their good parameters, low cost, ease of use and non-invasive character the uHex and uGGT tests are useful tools for the detection of chronic alcohol abuse.