Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 26, 2026

Chronic Intermittent Ethanol Vapor Exposure Paired with Two-Bottle Choice to Model Alcohol Use Disorder

Chronic Intermittent Ethanol Vapor Exposure Paired with Two-Bottle Choice to Model Alcohol Use Disorder

Published on: June 23, 2023

Exploring Phosphatidylethanol Cutoffs for Self-Reported Unhealthy Alcohol Use: An International Multi-Site Analysis.

Pamela M Murnane¹, Fan Xia², Majid Afshar³

¹Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and the Institute for Global Health Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA.

Alcohol, Clinical & Experimental Research

|June 25, 2026

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Healthcare provider experiences integrating mental illness screening and management into hypertension care: qualitative systematic review.

Health promotion international·2026

Same author

COVID-19 Vaccine Reactogenicity Marks an Innate Inflammatory Response Associated With HLA Variation and Enhanced Protection.

Research square·2026

Same author

A Stepped Care, Peer-Delivered Intervention to Improve Substance Use and HIV Medication Adherence in Primary Care in South Africa (Project <i>Khanya</i>): Protocol for a Hybrid Type 2 Effectiveness-Implementation Randomized Controlled Trial.

JMIR research protocols·2026

Same author

Evaluating Associations Between Cumulative Use of Chronic Liver Injury-Inducing Antiretroviral Therapy and Hepatocellular Carcinoma, By Chronic Liver Disease Status.

Journal of acquired immune deficiency syndromes (1999)·2026

Same author

A Causal Framework for Evaluating the Total Effect of Strategies Aiming to Expand Screening and to Improve Outcomes.

Statistics in medicine·2026

Same author

Leveraging Self-Reporting in an Existing e-Cohort to Identify Clinically Relevant Mitral Valve Prolapse: Pilot Questionnaire Study.

JMIR formative research·2026

Summary

Phosphatidylethanol (PEth) cutoffs for detecting unhealthy alcohol use vary significantly by region. These findings highlight the need for regionally specific PEth thresholds to accurately screen for alcohol consumption patterns.

Area of Science:

Clinical Chemistry
Toxicology
Public Health

Background:

Unhealthy alcohol use is a major preventable cause of illness and death.
Accurate screening for alcohol consumption is challenging due to unreliable self-reporting.
Phosphatidylethanol (PEth) is a biomarker reflecting alcohol intake over 2-4 weeks, but established cutoffs for unhealthy drinking are lacking.

Purpose of the Study:

To examine and establish regional PEth cutoffs for identifying unhealthy alcohol use.
To assess the influence of demographic and clinical factors on PEth cutoffs.

Main Methods:

Pooled data from 11,088 individuals across 22 global studies.
Calculated PEth cutoffs using Youden's J index on a training set (90%) and validated on a separate set (10%).

Keywords:

alcohol drinking biomarkers cutoffs metabolism phosphatidylethanol self‐report

More Related Videos

The Motivation for Alcohol Reward: Predictors of Progressive-Ratio Intravenous Alcohol Self-Administration in Humans

The Motivation for Alcohol Reward: Predictors of Progressive-Ratio Intravenous Alcohol Self-Administration in Humans

Published on: April 28, 2022

Modeling Alcohol Consumption in Rodents Using Two-Bottle Choice Home Cage Drinking and Microstructural Analysis

Modeling Alcohol Consumption in Rodents Using Two-Bottle Choice Home Cage Drinking and Microstructural Analysis

Published on: November 8, 2024

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 26, 2026

Chronic Intermittent Ethanol Vapor Exposure Paired with Two-Bottle Choice to Model Alcohol Use Disorder

Chronic Intermittent Ethanol Vapor Exposure Paired with Two-Bottle Choice to Model Alcohol Use Disorder

Published on: June 23, 2023

The Motivation for Alcohol Reward: Predictors of Progressive-Ratio Intravenous Alcohol Self-Administration in Humans

The Motivation for Alcohol Reward: Predictors of Progressive-Ratio Intravenous Alcohol Self-Administration in Humans

Published on: April 28, 2022

Modeling Alcohol Consumption in Rodents Using Two-Bottle Choice Home Cage Drinking and Microstructural Analysis

Modeling Alcohol Consumption in Rodents Using Two-Bottle Choice Home Cage Drinking and Microstructural Analysis

Published on: November 8, 2024

Defined unhealthy drinking using Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test Consumption (AUDIT-C) and National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) criteria.

Main Results:

Optimal PEth cutoffs varied significantly by region, with different values for the US and Africa.
In the US, the AUDIT-C cutoff was 14.0 ng/mL; in Africa, it was 65.7 ng/mL.
Regional differences in PEth cutoffs were observed, with some variations by sex and BMI in Africa, but not in the US.

Conclusions:

PEth cutoffs for detecting unhealthy alcohol use differ substantially based on geographic region and other factors.
These variations may stem from differences in PEth metabolism or reporting biases.
Further research using objective measures is recommended for definitive conclusions on alcohol consumption.