Assessment of alcohol consumption in liver transplant candidates and recipients: the best combination of the tools available.

The detection of alcohol consumption in liver transplant candidates (LTCs) and liver transplant recipients (LTRs) is required to enable a proper assessment of transplant eligibility and early management of alcohol relapse, respectively. In this clinical setting, urinary ethyl glucuronide (uEtG), the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test for Alcohol Consumption (AUDIT-c), serum ethanol, urinary ethanol, carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT), and other indirect markers of alcohol consumption were evaluated and compared prospectively in 121 LTCs and LTRs. Alcohol consumption was diagnosed when AUDIT-c results were positive or it was confirmed by a patient's history in response to abnormal results. Alcohol consumption was found in 30.6% of the patients. uEtG was found to be the strongest marker of alcohol consumption (odds ratio\u2009=\u2009414.5, P\u2009<\u20090.001) and provided a more accurate prediction rate of alcohol consumption [area under receiving operating characteristic (ROC) curve\u2009=\u20090.94] than CDT (area under ROC curve\u2009=\u20090.63, P\u2009<\u20090.001) and AUDIT-c (area under ROC curve\u2009=\u20090.73, P\u2009<\u20090.001). The combination of uEtG and AUDIT-c showed higher accuracy in detecting alcohol consumption in comparison with the combination of CDT and AUDIT-c (area under ROC curve\u2009=\u20090.98 versus 0.80, P\u2009<\u20090.001). Furthermore, uEtG was the most useful marker for detecting alcohol consumption in patients with negative AUDIT-c results. In conclusion, the combination of AUDIT-c and uEtG improves the detection of alcohol consumption in LTCs and LTRs. Therefore, they should be used routinely for these patients