NCJ Number
186331
Journal
Journal of Addictive Diseases Volume: 19 Issue: 3 Dated: 2000 Pages: 43-59
Date Published
2000
Length
17 pages
Annotation
Data from 150 young adults in medical care facilities at the University of Missouri in Columbia formed the basis of an analysis of the use of the Early Detection of Alcohol Consumption (EDAC) score to detect heavy drinking and at-risk alcohol consumption in this population and to compare the results to self-reports.
Abstract
The EDAC score is a linear discriminant function derived from the analysis of a combination of up to 35 blood chemistry and hematology analyses ordered routinely in clinical settings. LabCorp analyzed the blood samples obtained from 66 males and 84 females with an average age of 25 years. The participants had all presented themselves for medical care not related to alcohol at primary care clinics associated with the university. The analysis of the blood chemistry panels used a linear discriminant function method available through SPSS software to predict whether each individual was a heavy drinker or an at-risk drinker. Results revealed that 8 of the 10 males and both of the 2 women were heavy drinkers according to both the EDAC and self-reports. Fifty of 56 males and 65 of 82 females were identified as not-heavy drinkers by both EDAC score and self report. Six of 54 males and 15 of 82 females had false positive results; of these, 14 of 21 met alcohol dependence criteria by the DSM-IV. The EDAC test had 30 percent sensitivity and 96 percent specificity when identifying at-risk drinking females. The EDAC’s sensitivity was higher for females than as any single traditional or new laboratory marker previously reported for diagnosis of alcohol abuse. The analysis concluded that the EDAC is a useful tool for assessing heavy and at-risk alcohol consumption in young adults as a complement or a substitute to an interview. Tables and 34 references (Author abstract modified)