Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32467838›Full record

ArticleAddictive behaviors reports2020

Sensitivity and specificity of a commercial urinary ethyl glucuronide (ETG) test in heavy drinkers.

Erica N Grodin, Xuan-Thanh Nguyen, Diana Ho, Spencer Bujarski, Lara A Ray

Open access · goldAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Addictive behaviors reports, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
0.4field-weighted citation impact, top 40% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed, 7 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Erica N GrodinUniversity of California Los Angeles, Department of Psychology, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Xuan-Thanh NguyenUniversity of California Los Angeles, Department of Psychology, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Diana HoUniversity of California Los Angeles, Department of Psychology, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Spencer BujarskiUniversity of California Los Angeles, Department of Psychology, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Lara A RayUniversity of California Los Angeles, Department of Psychology, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
University of California, Los Angeles · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionTo advance the use of alcohol metabolites as biomarkers in the context of alcohol research, the present study tested the sensitivity and specificity of a commercially available urinary ethyl glucuronide (uEtG) test (DrugConfirm Advanced 80hr EtG) in a clinical research context.

methodsA community sample of heavy drinkers (N = 68) completed the 30-day Timeline Follow-Back (TLFB) interview and provided a urine sample for uEtG analysis. Analyses of sensitivity and specificity of the uEtG assay were conducted using the following outcomes: (a) past day drinking, (b) past day binge drinking (defined as ≥4 drinks for women and ≥5 drinks for men), (c) past 3-day drinking, and (d) past 3-day binge drinking.

resultsThe majority of participants reported past-3-day drinking (80.9%) and a sizeable minority reported past day drinking (33.8%). While uEtG-based detection of past day drinking and binge drinking was acceptable (sensitivity = 73.91%, and 83.33%; specificity = 80.00% and 66.13%, respectively), detection of any drinking and binge drinking in the past 3 days was poor (sensitivity and specificity of 43.64% and 84.62%, and 39.39% and 62.86%, respectively).

conclusionsThis study contributes to the mixed findings on the validity of EtG tests, which suggest that commercial uEtG tests with conservative detection thresholds are not a reliable alcohol biomarker without corroborating self-report data. Lower detection thresholds are recommended when using uEtG as an alcohol biomarker. Efforts to reach acceptable levels of sensitivity and specificity with commercial assays hold potential to advance the measurement of alcohol intake, overcoming the pitfalls of self-report data.

Indexed as

Alcohol metabolitesBiomarkerEthyl glucuronideHeavy drinkersUrinary EtG

Identifiers

PMID32467838
PMCPMC7244915
OpenAlexW2999161595

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.