GERD-related microaspiration as a contaminant in breath alcohol testing: Case reports

Forensic breath alcohol testing depends on contamination-free breath sampling. This case study describes two subjects with a history of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and other aerodigestive symptoms who exhibited repeated coughing near the time of breath alcohol testing. Breath alcohol expirograms demonstrated negative slopes consistent with mouth alcohol contamination. The observations raise the possibility that microaspiration may represent a source of such contamination, and the cases are presented as hypothesis-generating. Further research is needed to evaluate GERD-related microaspiration in the context of breath alcohol testing.