Effectiveness of federally required medical laboratory screening in the detection of chemical liver injury

The increasing concern of industrialized societies over the potential health hazard of synthetic chemicals in the occupational environment has led to government requirements for medical laboratory screening of workers. The specific tests for such screening programs are most often selected on the basis of medical experience which utilized them in symptomatic or hospitalized populations. Required screening tests for hepatic injury including cancer in vinyl chloride workers has been systematically and prospectively studied in an industrial population working with synthetic rubber and plastics. Approximately 1300 employees were studied over a five-year period. A cohort of 969 male employees, for the purposes of analysis, were divided into a “standard” and “nonstandard” population based upon the absence or presence of significant medical disease (including liver disease). A subcohort of 120 individuals was further identified based on availabiliity of liver biopsy. Evaluation of federally required studies included alkaline phosphatase (AP), γ-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGTP), alanine aminotranserase (ALT, SGPT), aspartic aminotransferase (AST, SGOT) and bilirubin (BR). Also studied were indocyanine green clearance (ICG) and radioisotopic liver spleen scans (L-S scans). The GGTP provided the highest positive predicted value as a screening test for identifying “nonstandard” individuals (individuals with all types of medical disease) followed by ICG, AST, ALT, L-S scan, AP, and BR. In the identification of asymptomatic liver disease the GGTP had the least specificity due to a high false positive rate, while the AP provided the highest specificity. The ICG clearance however, provided the best combination of positive predictive value and sum of specificity and sensitivity. The AP provided additional increase in specificity as a follow-up study. There was no evidence that any of the other federally required tests added any additional benefit and did add significant increase in the false positive rate. These studies support the need for evaluating screening tests as to their sensitivity, specificity and positive predictive value, in asymptomatic individuals, before they are made established requirements.