Citation

Bonnichsen R, Goldberg L. Proc. Int. Counc. Alcohol Drugs Traffic Safety Conf. 1981; 1981: 796-810.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1981, The author(s) and the Council, Publisher International Council on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This work, part of a long-term study of comparisons of breath (brac) and blood alcohol (BAC) under widely varying conditions, has the overall aim of investigating whether blood sampling can be substituted by breath, and comprises the results in the field of breath-blood comparisons on over 1000 drivers suspected of driving under the influence. Multiple breath (IR spectrophotometry) and blood ethanol (adh and glc) analyses together with numerous epidemiological data have been evaluated to ascertain precision, accuracy, usefulness, applicability and background. Internal consistency, mode of variation in differences between breath and blood, and extended regression and correlation analyses with assessment of error estimates under varying conditions have been evaluated. With regard to background the variability of brac and BAC levels and their distributions was shown to be dependent on mode of apprehension, type of offence, drinking practices, age, sex, and problem drinking. Results show that reliable automated breath methods with digital printout, consistent performance and a variability between repeated samples under statistical control within fixed limits related to the brac level, can be substituted for blood sampling in the overwhelming majority of cases; the measures to be taken in the few cases left are under further investigation. (TRRL)