engleski

Comparison of Breath and Blood Alcohol Concentrations in a Controlled Drinking Study

In the research of influence of alcohol on the mental and physical state of the body alcohol concentration in the blood plays an important role which must be properly defined. Therefore, the aim of our study was to examine breath and blood alcohol concentration in ten young, healthy, non-smoker male volunteers after consuming a red wine, containing 13 vol % of alcohol. Red wine (3 ml/kg) was consumed in the morning, after an overnight fast. Breath alcohol concentration (BrAC) and blood alcohol concentration (BAC) were determined before (baseline) and 15, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, 150 and 240 min after beverage consumption. BAC was determined by headspace gas chromatography and BrAC was determined with Alcotest Dräger 6810 instrument. The concentration time profiles of alcohol in blood and breath following wine intake, poorly matched. Results show that the averages BrAC are significantly higher than average BAC in 15 min, 30 min and 45 min after beverage consumption. One hour after beverage consumption there were not statistically significant difference between BrAC and BAC measures. These results indicate that factual blood alcohol concentration and related expert toxicological decision based solely on the results obtained from breath analyzer might not be correct.

Breath alcohol concentration; Blood alcohol concentration; Ethanol pharmacokinetics; Dräger alcotest

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