Pubdate: Mon, 09 Feb 1998 Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Author: John Fauber Contact: (414) 224-8280 Website: http://www.jsonline.com/ TEST CAN DETECT HEAVY DRINKERS Discovery raises concerns about privacy, Medical College researchers admit Researchers who used hundreds of Milwaukee area drinkers as test subjects say they have developed a battery of common, inexpensive tests that can identify heavy drinkers with 98% accuracy -- for as long as a week after the last drink. The researchers readily admit the potential for invading privacy by improper use of their discovery, the research for which was partially paid for by the Technology Development Fund of the Wisconsin Department of Development. "It could be abused, yes," said Andre Balla, an associate professor of pathology at the Medical College of Wisconsin. "That is one of the concerns." But the test -- which can be done for less than $50 -- could help identify people with drinking problems and get them the help they need, said Balla and James Harasymiw, a Big Bend psychologist who developed the test and holds a patent on it. The study was conducted by researchers from the Medical College of Wisconsin in Wauwatosa and the College of Medicine at the University of Iowa. It was published in a recent issue of the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology. For their study, the researchers located 426 heavy drinkers and 188 light drinkers -- all men -- mostly by recruiting them through Milwaukee area community organizations. The heavy drinkers came from detoxification centers, churches and outpatient treatment facilities. There were not enough women recruited to produce a valid sample, so all women were dropped from the study. Harasymiw said the test is a good way to determine whether people who are in treatment for drinking are truthful about abstaining. He is working to modify the test so it can be used with pregnant women to help prevent fetal alcohol syndrome. "The idea is to use it to benefit people," he said. Volunteers from detoxification centers were given vouchers for food or gifts for participating. Community organizations were paid for the volunteers they recruited. Light drinkers were recruited from four churches, support groups for recovering alcoholics and drug abusers, a college campus, a golf outing and a work setting. Who's a Heavy Drinker? A heavy drinker was defined as someone who consumed more than 700 ounces of alcohol in the past year -- the equivalent of about four drinks a day. However, the mean consumption among the Milwaukee heavy drinkers was more than five times that amount. The light drinkers consumed a mean of 39 ounces of alcohol, or about 80 drinks a year. After identifying the heavy drinkers through interviews, the researchers ran a battery of 40 tests on their blood samples. Eventually, they found that 10 of those tests, taken as a whole, could be used to develop a mathematical model that would identify the heavy drinkers. The 10 tests include HDL cholesterol, a white blood cell test, kidney and liver function tests and hydration tests. Individually, the tests can't accurately predict drinking habits. But taken together, they were 98% accurate in identifying heavy drinkers and 95% accurate in identifying light drinkers. For a smaller group of heavy drinkers who had not consumed alcohol for a period of one week to one month, the test still proved 88% accurate. The test's accuracy was greater when it was used for heavy drinkers of lower socioeconomic status than middle class heavy drinkers, for whom the test was about 85% accurate. That's largely due to the poorer nutrition and health habits of heavy drinkers from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, said Arthur Hartz, the study's main author and a former professor of family medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin. He now is a professor of family medicine at the University of Iowa. In addition, there is some evidence that low-income heavy drinkers abuse alcohol more than middle-class heavy drinkers, Hartz said. In terms of accuracy, the test "blows away" other methods used to determine whether someone has engaged in heavy drinking, Harasymiw said. The best test now on the market has an accuracy range of 60% to 80%, he said. Aside from any legal considerations, employers likely would have an interest in using such a test, especially employers that are concerned about safety and absenteeism issues, said Beth McFarland, vice president of staffing services at ProStaff, a Milwaukee employment firm.