A Growing Epidemic of Alcohol Problems

Previous studies have shown that the compounding of biological markers and henho rehearse questionnaires is an efficient instrument in determining alcoholic drinkic beverage ab give.Among the research lab tests use to determine biological markers of alcohol abuse, it has been give that the virtu every last(p rednessicate)y dainty marker is the take aim of gelt-deficient transferrin (CDT) (Viitala, 1998 Yersin et al., 1995). CDT is a protein which is found out to be a sensitive marker of disease of the liver ca utilise by excessive alcohol intake.Among the usually use biological markers be detection of the level of ethanol and acetate, mean corpuscular pot (MCV), gamma glutamyl transferase (GGT) and glycosylated hemoglobin (Hb A1c) (Hoeksema & Bock, 1993). The CAGE questionnaire was do by Dr. John Ewing to identify alcoholics. It is rest of four questions scored as 0 or 1 and boozing is considered to be profound if the individual in question rafts two or greater.In a accepted use up conducted to comp ar the sensitivity and specifity of CAGE questionnaire, plasma levels of ethanol and acetate, mean corpuscular volume, gamma glutamyl transferase and glycosylated hemoglobin, it was found that the it is through the use of CAGE questionnaire that the alcoholic patients are most accurately distinguished against nonalcoholic and patients with non-alcoholic hepatic disease with 90%sensititvity and 99% specificity (Girela, Villanueva, Hernandez-Cueto, & Luna, 1994).Socio-demographic factors are excessively commonly included in studies conducted to ascertain alcoholic problems for it has been shown in nigh studies that it is related to alcoholic abuse.Age, sex, educational overtureion and economic status are among the factors commonly observed. In a take in conducted by Bataille (2003) to identify straining drinkers in a large population, he included the use of socio-demographic factors as one way of identification.Results of his study show that there is no authoritative difference in age, sex, arterial hypertension however educational level and bullet habits proves to have signifi toleratet differences in the population observed. Those with lower educational background and familiar smoking habits relates to greater alcohol ingestion (Bataille et al., 2003).Although there have been lots of studies that used biological markers, CAGE questionnaires and evaluation of socio-demographic factors merely there is a lack of comforting findings that elucidate the interrelationships of these indicators in identifying alcohol problems. Thus, there is need to conduct a study regarding this matterIII. Conceptual FrameworkA. Nominal Definition/ mean of ConceptsAccording to Viitala (1998) alcohol abuse refers to heavy imbibing that results into health consequences, social problem or both and patients of this kind suffer from rational or physical complications brought on by alcohol even though the criteria for alcoholism may not have been complete while alcoholism is the most prankish problem related to alcohol outgo and it is a disease where severe addiction and increased tolerance has been developed.According to Peterson (2004), a biological marker or biomarker is a compound or series of compounds that can be used to measure the progress of a disease or the effectuate of treatment. Among the currently used biomarkers for detecting alcohol intake are serum gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT), aspartate aminopherase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) which are all liver enzymes.N-acetyl--hexosaminidase (beta-Hex) which indicates break down of carbohydrates in liver cells and other cells of the body is in like manner used as a biomarker.Mean corpuscular volume (MCV) which is a measure of red blood cell volume is also used as a biomarker (Peterson, 2004). In this study the biomarker that will be used is CDT. CDT is a form of glycoprotein transferrin which ca rries put right in the bloodstream but without carbohydrate sialic acid. Normally different forms of transferrin are available in the body but the one that is most abundant among heavy drinkers of alcohol is CDT.