Chronic consumption of alcohol seems to be associated with increased plasma tHcy levels. Lipidologists in their practice perform differential diagnosis of primary or secondary mixed hyperlipidemias (HLP). Alcohol intake is the important cause of HLP. Anamnestic data can be contradictory. Classical biological markers (gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) or erythrocyte mean corpuscular volume (MCV) used widely to screen for alcoholism show lower sensitivities. Carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) is the most specific marker of chronic alcohol abuse so far. A total of 95 patients (47 M, 48 F) suspected of high alcohol consumption and 24 healthy controls were enrolled in our study. We determined CDT (TIA, ROCHE, cut-off value – 5%), plasma total homocysteine (tHCY) (FPIA), serum folate, vitamin B12, plasma vitamin B6 and other routine parameters. The group of patients was divided into two groups according to the CDT value. In the 2nd group (CDT > 5%) there were significantly higher MCV and GGT activity than in the 1st group (CDT < 5%). The 2nd group had significantly higher concentrations of tHcy compared with the control group (P < 0.0164) and the 1st group (P < 0.0074). CDT values of the group of patients significantly correlated with tHcy values (r = 0.3690, P = 0.0002). Serum CDT can play an important role in the differential diagnosis of hyperhomocysteinemia caused by chronic excessive alcohol consumption.

        Key words: homocysteine, CDT, alcohol, folate, vitamin B6, vitamin B12.