Some Laboratory Correlates of Drinking Habits

Abstract

The effect of drinking habits on the frequency distributions of 8 biochemical or hematological test results was studied in 7915 patients attending a multiphasic health testing center. Increasing incidences of abnormal results with increasing alcohol intake, at levels of alcohol intake habitual for a large proportion of the population, were found for plasma gamma-glytamyl transpeptidase, triglycerides and uric acid and for erythrocyte mean corpuscular volume. Of 4 frequently used liver function tests, aspartate aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, bilirubin and albumin, only aspartate aminotransferase was strongly affected by drinking habits. The detection of individuals whose drinking habits are harmful to them and the interpretation of profile results were discussed.