. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2025 Jul 31.

Published in final edited form as: Liver Transpl. 2024 Mar 13;30(8):848–861. doi: 10.1097/LVT.0000000000000362

Table 5 -. Direct Biomarkers for Alcohol Use.

Biomarker	Detection Window	Test Performance	Utility
Urine Ethanol	5-8 hours	Sensitivity: 100% Specificity: 100%	If encephalopathic, useful to estimate risk of alcohol withdrawal
Urine Ethyl Glucuronide (EtG)	5 days	Sensitivity: 76% Specificity: 93%	Can be 100% sensitive within 2-3 days
Blood Phosphatidyl Ethanol (PEth)	Low use: 12 days Moderate use: 2-3 weeks Heavy use: 3-4 weeks	Sensitivity: 97-99% Specificity: 100%	Can estimate quantity of use based on last daily drink