Methanol as a Marker of Alcohol Abuse

Abstract

Serum methanol levels were studied in 16 skid-row alcoholics, 16 alcoholics entering a detoxification unit, 193 drunken drivers, and 50 social drinkers, all of whom had a blood-ethanol concentration exceeding 5 mmol/liter at the time of sampling. Highest mean serum methanol level was found in alcoholics entering detoxification (636 +/- 68 mumol/liter, p less than 0.001 as compared to social drinkers), followed by skid-row alcoholics (567 +/- 105 mumol/liter, p less than 0.001), drunken drivers (231 +/- 11 mumol/liter, p less than 0.001) and social drinkers (127 +/- 10 mumol/liter). During 2 days heavy drinking mean serum methanol concentration in 10 nonalcoholic volunteers increased from 177 +/- 15 mumol/liter 1 h after the beginning of drinking to 322 +/- 29 mumol/liter 42 h after the beginning of drinking (p less than 0.001). In 70 of the drunken drivers urinary methanol concentration was determined as well and a fairly good correlation (r = +0.56, p less than 0.001) between serum and urinary methanol levels were found. Our results suggest that methanol determined either from serum or urine can be used as a biological marker of alcohol abuse.