@article{ref1,
title="First objective association between elevated carbohydrate-deficient transferrin concentrations and alcohol-related traffic accidents",
journal="Alcoholism: clinical and experimental research",
year="2015",
author="Bortolotti, Federica and Micciolo, Rocco and Canal, Luisa and Tagliaro, Franco",
volume="39",
number="11",
pages="2108-2114",
abstract="BACKGROUND: Carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) is a well-recognized highly specific marker of chronic alcohol abuse. The association of CDT with alcohol-related traffic accidents was evaluated to objectively validate the use of this marker for certifying the physical fitness for driving license regranting after its confiscation for drunk driving. <br><br>METHODS: The study was carried out on 468 injured drivers (InjDr), who underwent mandatory blood alcohol concentration (BAC) and drug analysis in biological fluids. The InjDr group was divided into 2 subgroups on the basis of BAC legal limit adopted in Italy (BAC ≤ 0.5 g/l: InjDr1 ; BAC >0.5 g/l: InjDr2 ). The control group (CntDr) included 236 subjects holding safety-sensitive job positions and undergoing mandatory toxicological analyses. The determination of BAC in blood and CDT in serum were performed using validated analytical methods based on head-space gas chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatography, respectively. <br><br>RESULTS: The evaluation of CDT distribution in the 3 groups (CntDr, InjDr1 , InjDr2 ) showed that CDT distribution in the InjDr1 group was similar to that observed in the CntDr group (p = 0.159) and different from that observed in the InjDr2 group (p < 0.001). Partitioning the CDT data of each group into &quot;CDT positives&quot; and &quot;CDT negatives&quot; on the basis of the cut off (1.90%), it was possible to calculate the odds of the 3 groups and then the odds ratios. The odds ratio of InjDr1 versus CntDr was 4.56 (p = 0.158), whereas the odds ratio of InjDr2 versus CntDr was 132 (p < 0.001). Furthermore, a dose-response effect was found only when comparing InjDr2 with CntDr. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: The data of the present study strongly support the use of the CDT test to evaluate the risk of a subject to be involved in a road accident while driving under the influence of alcohol.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0145-6008",
doi="10.1111/acer.12879",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/acer.12879"
}