Effectiveness of structured questionnaires for screening heavy drinking in middle-aged women.

Background: There is a need for an effective and feasible alcohol screening instrument. The aim of the study was to evaluate how the abbreviated versions of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) questionnaire perform in comparison with the original AUDIT and what the optimal cutoffs are when screening for heavy drinking among women.

Methods: All the 40-year-old women in the city of Tampere, Finland, are invited yearly for a health screening.

Method for localization of sialic acid on cell surface and cell interior in peripheral blood: a pilot study.

This article presents a method for identification and localization of cell surface and intracellular sialoglycoconjugates of peripheral blood cells. To reveal cell surface conjugates, a sample of peripheral blood was incubated with lectin after centrifugation and rinsing. For intracellular localization in leukocytes, RBCs were lysed and the membranes were permeabilized prior to cytochemical reaction.

Alcohol misuse increases serum antibodies to oxidized LDL and C-reactive protein.

Aims: To clarify the relationship of alcohol consumption with serum antibodies to oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL) and the inflammation marker C-reactive protein (CRP).

Methods: The study population consisted of 280 men with evidence of alcohol misuse by having self-reported alcohol consumption values over 280 g absolute ethanol per week and 250 age-matched moderate drinkers from a population of Finnish men participating in the FINRISK survey study. Serum samples were analysed for antibodies to oxLDL, C-reactive protein (CRP), total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, triglycerides, carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) and gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT).

Substance use-related outpatient consultations in specialized health care: an underestimated entity.

Background: To study the occurrence and documentation of substance use related outpatient visits in specialized health care.

Methods: The diagnosis recorded in retrospective discharge data in Tampere University Hospital for 6 years was compared with the prospective data gathered from separately completed forms added during an 8-week period to every outpatient's discharge data. In this form, the relation of substance use and the actual reason for the consultation were specifically elicited.

Self-reported alcohol consumption and association to carbohydrate-deficient transferrin and gamma-glutamyltransferase in a random sample of the general population in the Republic of Karelia, Russia and in North Karelia, Finland.

In the present study, alcohol consumption was estimated in a population survey in Pitkäranta in the Republic of Karelia, Russia (RUS) and in the neighbouring province of North Karelia in Finland (FIN) in the spring of 1997 in connection with the National FINRISK Study. Alcohol consumption was evaluated by self-report and by the biological markers carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) and gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT). In RUS, elevated CDT values were observed in 36.

Opposite associations of carbohydrate-deficient transferrin and gamma-glutamyltransferase with prevalent coronary heart disease.

Background: Moderate alcohol consumption may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD), but excessive alcohol consumption is probably harmful to the heart. We analyzed the association of 2 commonly used markers of alcohol consumption-carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) and gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT)-and self-reported alcohol consumption with prevalent CHD.

Methods: The study included a random sample of 3666 Finnish men aged 25 to 74 years who participated in a risk factor survey in 1997.