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Updated: Feb 14, 2026

Murine Drinking Models in the Development of Pharmacotherapies for Alcoholism: Drinking in the Dark and Two-bottle Choice
Published on: January 7, 2019
A utilitarian comparison of two alcohol use biomarkers with self-reported drinking history collected in antenatal
Philip A May1, Julie M Hasken2, Marlene M De Vries3
1University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Nutrition Research Institute, United States; Stellenbosch University, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch 7600, South Africa.
Background:
Alcohol use is reported accurately among pregnant women in some populations.
Methods:
Self-reported alcohol use via the AUDIT and 90-day recall for 193 women from antenatal clinics was compared to biomarker results: phosphatidylethanol (PEth) from bloodspots and ethyl glucuronide (EtG) in fingernails.
Results:
AUDIT was positive for 67.9% of respondents, and 65.3% directly reported drinking. Individual biomarkers detected less drinking (PEth = 57.0%, EtG = 38.9%) than self-report. But 64.8% had drinking-positive values (>8 ng) on one or both biomarkers, which was not significantly different from self-report. Biomarkers indicated that 3.1% -6.8% of drinkers denied drinking. Combined biomarker sensitivity was 95% -80% and specificity 49% -76% for drinking in the previous 7-90 days. Combined biomarker results have their best yield (89.6%) and accuracy (78.8%) when measuring 90 day drinking.
Conclusions:
Women reported their alcohol use accurately, and the combined use of PEth and EtG is supported.
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