[Biomarkers of alcohol consumption, an update]

Alcohol disorder is a growing public health concern, both national and globally. Accurate assessment using standardized questionnaires is an important step towards effective management of the patient suffering from alcohol disorder. The use of biochemical laboratory measures often helps in obtaining independent estimations of alcohol use. Because of (very) low specificity and sensitivity, the use of traditional biomarkers ASAT, ALAT, ASAT-ALAT ratio and MCV is not recommended anymore in the Netherlands. Use of BAC is recommended to detect recent drinking as is CDT measurement in blood, possibly together with gGT, for the diagnosis of chronic excessive alcohol use. EtG in urine can be used for short term monitoring a patient in an abstinence traject. PEth in blood is a very promising biomarker in detecting recent and chronic alcohol consumption as well as monitoring abstinence. The availability of a fast and cheap method for detecting PEth with a well-defined and accepted cut off, are essential study objectives.