Reliability of a flushing questionnaire and the ethanol patch test in screening for inactive aldehyde dehydrogenase-2 and alcohol-related cancer risk

Molecular epidemiology of esophageal and upper aerodigestive tract cancers revealed that alcohol is more carcinogenic in persons with inactive aldehyde dehydrogenase-2 (ALDH2) than in those with active ALDH2. A simple questionnaire has been developed to screen for the facial flushing that occurs in persons with inactive ALDH2 when they drink even a single glass of beer. In this study, 266 of 284 consecutive male Japanese clinic patients (age > or = 50 years) completed the flushing questionnaire, and 239 underwent the ethanol patch test (a cutaneous model for the flushing response). Blinded genotyping showed inactive ALDH2 for 94.4% (102 of 108) of subjects who reported always flushing (early in their drinking history or currently) and for 47.7% (21 of 44) of those who reported sometimes flushing, whereas 95.6% (109 of 114) of subjects reporting that they never exhibited facial flushing had active ALDH2. When all three categories of flushing (current always, former always, and sometimes) were collapsed into one, the questionnaire's sensitivity and specificity for identifying inactive ALDH2 were 96.1 and 79.0%, respectively, compared with 72.4 and 71.4% for the ethanol patch test. The results suggest the utility of this simple flushing questionnaire in daily practice, as well as large-scale studies to assess cancer risks associated with drinking and ALDH2 and for activities aimed at preventing alcohol-related cancer.