Læknablaðið - 15.12.1997, Side 32

818
LÆKNABLAÐIÐ 1997; 83
Neysluvenjur og misnotkun
áfengis meðal íslenskra kvenna
yfir 55 ára aldri
Samanburður klínískra einkenna við lifrarpróf og
meðalfrumurými rauðra blóðkorna
Helgi G. Garðarsson1,2’, Þórður Harðarson1), Tómas Helgason2’
Garðarsson HG, Harðarson Þ, Helgason T
Use and abuse of alcohol among elderly women in
Iccland. Comparison of clinical svmptoms of abusc
with liver function tests and mean corpuscular vol-
ume
Læknablaðið 1997; 83: 818-27
Objective: This study was conducted to investigate
the prevalence of alcohol abuse and dependency
among elderly women in Iceland and to make an
assessment of the sensitivity and specificity of liver
function tests and mean corpuscular volume (MCV)
in the diagnosis of alcohol abuse.
Methods: The group was made of 280 women (age
55-74 years, mean age 61.9 years) from the Reykja-
vík Study. The diagnoses were based on a question-
naire (eight symptoms) which has been used in epi-
demiological studies of alcoholism in Iceland since
1974. To this questionnaire there were added five
questions aiding to the diagnosis of the lifetime
prevalence rate of abuse. The CAGE questionnaire
is implicated in this scale of 13 symptoms.
Rcsults: Among 263 respondents (93.9%), there
were 156 consumers (59.3%). Of the consumers
16% had at least one symptom indicating alcohol
abuse. The diagnosis of abuse was made when three
symptoms of eight occurred together. Abuse oc-
cured among 2.6% of consumers (1.5% of respon-
dents). Symptom triad of dependency occurred
among 1.3% of consumers (0.8% of respondents).
Frá 1,lyflækningadeild og 2lgeðdeild Landspitalans. Fyrir-
spurnir, bréfaskipti: Þórður Harðarson, lyflækningadeild
Landspítalans, 101 Reykjavík.
Lykilorð: áfengismisnotkun, lifrarpróf, konur.
Heavy drinking was equally frequent as depend-
ency. Mean values of gamma glutamyl transferase
(G-GT) and MCV increase with increasing number
of symptoms of abuse. The sensitivity of G-GT and
MCV is low (20%) but the specificity is high (94%)
for both. Bilirubin and alkaline phosphatase do nei-
ther have a sensitivity nor specificity for the diagnos-
is of abuse.
Conclusion: These findings indicate that these blood
tests are not a reliable method for the screening of
alcohol abuse among elderly women. A question-
naire searching for clinical symptoms of abuse is the
best method for the diagnosis of abuse. Among
elderly women, the symptom of guilty feelings con-
nected to alcohol consumption, is the most sensitive
indicator of abuse. But there are probably more
women that experience guilty feelings than those
which can be considered alcohol abusers.
Keywords: alcohol abuse, liver function tests, women.
Ágrip
Tilgangur: Að kanna neysluvenjur og mis-
notkun áfengis meðal eldri íslenskra kvenna og
samtímis meta næmi og sértækni lifrarprófa og
meðalfrumurýmis rauðra blóðkorna til grein-
ingar á áfengismisnotkun.
Efniviður og aðferðir: Rannsóknarhópurinn
samanstóð af 280 konum á aldrinum 55-74 ára
(meðalaldur 61,9 ár) úr fimmta áfanga hóp-
rannsóknar Hjartaverndar. Greining áfengis-
misnotkunar var byggð á átta einkenna skim-
prófi, sem reynsla hefur fengist af við áfengis-
rannsóknir hérlendis. Fimm spurningum, sem
gefa vísbendingu um hvort misnotkun hafi ein-
hvern tíma verið vandamál, var bætt við þetta
skimpróf. Einkenni um áfengismisnotkun voru