Rapid ethyl glucuronide test easy and inexpensive method of screening alcohol use among pregnant women

Results

In this material an EtG cut-off of 300 ng/mL suggesting heavy alcohol drinking was exceeded by 7.4% (5/68) of the samples in the HAL clinic, 1.9% (4/202) in LCH, and 0.9% (2/225) in USR. A cut-off of 100 ng/mL was exceeded by 17.6% (12/68) of samples from HAL, 7.5% (16/212) from LCH, and 6.7% (15/225) from USR. Based on confirmatory quantitative analyses, there were no false negatives nor false positives in rapid EtG screening. However, 57 (11.3%) of test results were classified as uncertain. In these cases, confirmation by quantitative analyses resulted in 56.1% rate of positive values. 73% of the samples with EtG > 300 ng/mL showed positive cotinine results suggesting smoking co-occurring with alcohol intake.

Rapid EtG tests may be an easy and inexpensive method, which may improve the possibilities for screening alcohol use among pregnant women during routine prenatal visits. Quantitative EtG analyses are recommended to confirm screening positive and uncertain cases.

Reference:

Jolma, M., Koivu-Jolma, M., Niemelä, O. et al. Rapid urine screening for ethyl glucuronide from pregnant women as a tool for detecting prenatal alcohol exposure. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 23, 464 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-023-05789-x

Keywords:

Rapid, ethyl, glucuronide, test, easy, inexpensive, method, screening, alcohol, use, among, pregnant, women, BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth