Analysis of relationship of hormonal, hematological and biochemical parameters in Indian alcoholics with severity of alcohol dependence.

Background: Alcohol dependence syndrome (ADS) is a major problem in India. ADS is known to be a systemic disorder involving almost all organ-systems. The evaluation of ADS patients' needs successive assessment of severity of clinical condition. In this study, we attempted to explore Severity of Alcohol Dependence Questionnaire (SADQ-C) as a severity measure by studying its association with laboratory parameters. Methods: During the two months study period 155 diagnosed ADS male patients who had been admitted to the Psychiatric Ward of two zonal level hospitals were enrolled for the study. The participants were examined by the Psychiatrist and the severity of alcoholism ascertained by the SADQ-C scoring. Based on SADQ-C scoring they were divided into three groups: severe alcohol dependence, moderate dependence and mild physical dependence. The patients' blood samples were collected and tested. Results: In our study, morning and evening level of serum cortisol showed positive correlation with increasing SADQ-C scoring. The differences in morning and evening cortisol level also augmented with increasing severity score (r=0.257; p=0.001). Hemoglobin, mean corpuscular volume (MCV) and serum level of LH, FSH and testosterone levels were not shown any statistically significant alterations amongst the studied groups. Serum LH, total bilirubin, direct bilirubin, AST, ALT and GGT level showed positive correlation with SADQ-C scoring but AST/ALT ratio showed negative correlation. Conclusion: This study elaborated relationship between SADQ-C scoring and laboratory parameters in Indian male ADS patients. It highlighted the requirement of incorporation of serum cortisol along with presently evaluated laboratory parameters for ADS severity evaluation.