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The saliva strip test is an accurate method to determine blood alcohol concentration in trauma patients
Linda C Degutis1, Reuven Rabinovici, Alfredo Sabbaj
1Department of Surgery, Section of Emergency Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06519, USA. linda.degutis@yale.edu
Objectives:
To determine the accuracy of alcohol saliva testing (AST) in trauma patients.
Methods:
Blood alcohol concentration (BAC) was measured by using both AST (QED A350; STC Technologies, Bethlehem, PA) and blood serum levels in 100 trauma patients admitted to the emergency department of an urban Level 1 trauma center.
Results:
All 41 patients who tested positive for BAC on AST (mean [+/-SD]: 167.9 +/- 16.16; range: 20-350 mg/dL) also tested positive on serum determination (mean: 197.6 +/- 13.79; range: 22-446 mg/dL). Correlation between the two positive tests was significant (0.879, p < 0.001). Of the remaining 61 patients, 59 tested negative on both tests, while two patients with BACs of <30 mg/dL tested negative on the AST. For 18 patients with blood in the oropharynx, there was a correlation of 0.976 (p < 0.001, two-tailed) between serum and AST tests.
Conclusions:
The AST method of measuring BAC in trauma patients is accurate. Blood in the oral cavity did not appear to affect the accuracy of the test.
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