American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology
Volume 198, Issue 4 , Pages 407.e1-407.e5, April 2008

Measurement of direct ethanol metabolites suggests higher rate of alcohol use among pregnant women than found with the AUDIT—a pilot study in a population-based sample of Swedish women

Presented at the 11th Congress of the European Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism, Berlin, Germany, Sept. 23-26, 2007.

  • Friedrich Martin Wurst, MD, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Psychiatric University Clinic, Basel, Switzerland
    • Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy II/Addiction Medicine, Christion-Doppler Clinic, Paracelecus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria
    • ,
  • Erika Kelso, MD

      Affiliations

    • Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
    • ,
  • Wolfgang Weinmann, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Department of Forensic Toxicology, Institute of Legal Medicine, University Hospital, Freiburg, Germany
    • ,
  • Fritz Pragst, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Institute of Legal Medicine, Humboldt-University, Berlin, Germany
    • ,
  • Michel Yegles, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Department of Toxicology, Laboratoire National de Santé, Université du Luxembourg, Luxembourg.
    • ,
  • Inger Sundström Poromaa, MD, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
    • Corresponding Author InformationReprints: Inger Sundström Poromaa, Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, Uppsala University, 751 85 Uppsala, Sweden.

Received 11 April 2007; received in revised form 1 August 2007; accepted 12 October 2007. published online 28 January 2008.

Objectives

The objective of the study was to investigate whether biomarkers of alcohol consumption would provide additional information to the use of a validated alcohol questionnaire in pregnant women.

Study Design

One hundred three pregnant women were included in the study. The women completed the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) questionnaire, and a urine and hair sample was collected. The urine samples were used for determination of ethyl glucuronide (EtG) and ethyl sulfate and the hair samples for EtG and fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEE).

Results

Twenty-six women (25.2%) were identified as possible alcohol consumers by the combined use of AUDIT and direct ethanol metabolites. Seven subjects had EtG or FAEE levels in hair highly suspicious of heavy drinking, but only 1 of these were positive according to the AUDIT questionnaire

Conclusion

The combined use of the AUDIT questionnaire and direct ethanol metabolites appear to identify more potential alcohol consumers among pregnant women than does the sole use of the AUDIT questionnaire.

Key words: alcohol, Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test, direct ethanol metabolites, pregnancy

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 Cite this article as: Wurst FM, Kelso E, Weinmann W, et al. Measurement of direct ethanol metabolites suggests higher rate of alcohol use among pregnant women than found with the AUDIT—a pilot study in a population-based sample of Swedish women. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2008;198:407.e1-407.e5.

 This study was supported by grants from Systembolagets forskningsfond, Sweden.

PII: S0002-9378(07)02023-6

doi:10.1016/j.ajog.2007.10.801

American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology
Volume 198, Issue 4 , Pages 407.e1-407.e5, April 2008

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