The correction factor (CF) of the alcohol biomarker ethyl sulfate (EtS), an important parameter for back-estimating alcohol consumption via wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE), reportedly has a large uncertainty due to the limited size of relevant pharmacokinetic studies. We applied an alternative approach to derive an EtS CF by comparing the sales data with the total load measured by WBE across Australia. We utilized EtS data from the National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program in Australia from 2016 to 2019, that covered more than 50% of the Australian population. National sales data for alcohol were obtained from the Australian Bureau of Statistics from 2016 to 2018—the most recent data available. A new CF of 4 × 10³ was suggested for EtS, significantly greater than the CFs that have been used previously (3042 or 3320). This new CF was applied to a separate multiple-year set of WBE data for EtS from an Australian town and generated estimates that better match sales data than the previous CFs. The new CF incorporates both the excretion rate and sewer degradation of EtS and hence is likely to improve the future accuracy of alcohol consumption estimates by WBE.

中文翻译：

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通过基于废水的流行病学估算酒精消耗：使用大规模国家监测数据评估硫酸乙酯的校正因子

据报道，酒精生物标志物硫酸乙酯（EtS）的校正因子（CF）是通过废水流行病学（WBE）反向估算酒精消耗量的重要参数，由于相关药代动力学研究的规模有限，因此存在很大的不确定性。通过将销售数据与WBE在澳大利亚范围内测得的总负荷进行比较，我们采用了另一种方法来得出EtSCF。我们使用了2016年至2019年澳大利亚国家污水药物监测计划提供的EtS数据，该数据覆盖了澳大利亚50％以上的人口。酒精的全国销售数据是从澳大利亚统计局获得的2016年至2018年的最新数据。新的4×10 ³ CF建议使用EtS，远大于以前使用的CF（3042或3320）。将此新的CF应用于来自澳大利亚城镇的EtS的单独的WBE多年数据集，并产生了比以前的CF更匹配销售数据的估算值。新的CF结合了EtS的排泄率和下水道退化，因此很可能会提高WBE未来酒精消耗量估算的准确性。