ALDH2-deficient university students may have their first experiences with heavy drinking while at university. Therefore, it is particularly important for university health professionals to be aware of the relationship between ALDH2 deficiency, facial flushing, and alcohol-related cancer risk. Informing ALDH2-deficient young people of their risk of esophageal cancer from alcohol drinking represents a valuable opportunity for cancer prevention. However, most of the data on the accuracy of the flushing questionnaire have come from individuals over 40 years old. To assess ALDH2 deficiency in young people with little experience of alcohol consumption, an ethanol patch test (see Box 1) can be used [13]. In the patch test, ethanol is applied to the skin, where it is metabolized to acetaldehyde. (Both ADH and ALDH can be detected in skin fibroblasts [33].) If the acetaldehyde is not further metabolized to acetate, it causes vasodilation, which is detected visually as localized erythema. Like the flushing questionnaire, the ethanol patch test is simple and inexpensive to perform, and the sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive value for inactive ALDH2 have been shown to be more than 90% in Japanese youth [34].
