Validation of Alcohol Flushing Questionnaire to Identify ALDH2 Status in a Case–Control Study of Head and Neck Cancer

Background Carriers of the ALDH2*2 allele have impaired alcohol metabolism and are more susceptible to the development of alcohol‐related cancers, including head and neck cancer (HNC). Screening for ALDH2*2 allele may identify high‐risk individuals for alcohol health education. Although genotyping o...

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Published in:Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research clinical and experimental research, 2019-06, Vol.43 (6), p.1225-1233
Main Authors: Hsiao, Jenn‐Ren, Lee, Wei‐Ting, Ou, Chun‐Yen, Huang, Cheng‐Chih, Chang, Chan‐Chi, Tsai, Sen‐Tien, Chen, Ken‐Chung, Huang, Jehn‐Shyun, Wong, Tung‐Yiu, Lai, Yu‐Hsuan, Wu, Yuan‐Hua, Hsueh, Wei‐Ting, Wu, Shang‐Yin, Yen, Chia‐Jui, Chang, Jang‐Yang, Lin, Chen‐Lin, Weng, Ya‐Ling, Yang, Han‐Chien, Chen, Yu‐Shan, Chang, Jeffrey S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alcohol Drinking
Alcohol Flushing
ALDH2
Case–Control
Head and Neck Cancer
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Summary:Background Carriers of the ALDH2*2 allele have impaired alcohol metabolism and are more susceptible to the development of alcohol‐related cancers, including head and neck cancer (HNC). Screening for ALDH2*2 allele may identify high‐risk individuals for alcohol health education. Although genotyping of ALDH2 is the most accurate way to identify ALDH2 deficiency, it may not be practical due to the cost and requirement for genotyping service. Methods This study evaluated the accuracy of the alcohol flushing questionnaire to identify ALDH2 deficiency in a case–control study of HNC conducted in Taiwan using data collected from 904 patients with HNC and 1,078 controls. Results Overall, alcohol flushing questionnaire had a high sensitivity (89%) of identifying ALDH2*2 carriers among the control subjects and a good sensitivity (79%) among the patients with HNC. The sensitivity of the alcohol flushing questionnaire in identifying ALDH2*2 carriers was affected by alcohol use, with a lower sensitivity among individuals who consumed alcohol, particularly among current regular (drinking alcohol once per week or more) alcohol drinkers. Conclusions The current validation study showed that the alcohol flushing questionnaire may be a reasonable method to identify ALDH2‐deficient individuals. However, current regular users of alcohol who reported no alcohol flushing may need to undergo genotyping of ALDH2 for a more accurate assessment of the ALDH2 status. In this validation study of the alcohol flushing questionnaire with subjects from a hospital‐based case‐control study of head and neck cancerconducted in Taiwan, we found that the alcohol flushing questionnaire had a high sensitivity (89%) of identifying ALDH2*2carriers among the control subjects and a good sensitivity(79%) among the HNC patients. The sensitivity of the alcohol flushing questionnaire in identifying ALDH2*2carriers was affected by alcohol use, with a lower sensitivity among current regular alcohol drinkers.
ISSN:0145-6008
1530-0277
DOI:10.1111/acer.14049