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Timing of the breath analyzer: does it make a difference?
1Medical Research Institute of San Francisco, Berkeley, California 94709.
Journal of Studies on Alcohol
|September 1, 1993
Summary
In emergency rooms, self-reports of no alcohol consumption before injury align well with breathalyzer tests. It is best to conduct breathalyzer tests before patient interviews for accurate alcohol consumption data.
Area of Science:
- Emergency Medicine
- Toxicology
- Public Health
Background:
- Alcohol consumption is a significant factor in injury causation.
- Accurate assessment of alcohol use in emergency room (ER) patients is crucial for diagnosis and treatment.
- Self-reporting of alcohol consumption may be subject to bias.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the agreement between self-reported no alcohol consumption and breathalyzer readings in an ER population.
- To compare this concordance when breathalyzer readings are obtained before versus after patient interviews.
Main Methods:
- A probability sample of 159 injured patients in three HMO ERs were included.
- Patients provided self-reports of alcohol consumption and underwent breathalyzer testing within 6 hours of injury.
- Data were analyzed based on whether breathalyzer tests preceded or followed patient interviews.
Main Results:
- High concordance was observed between negative self-reports and breathalyzer results, irrespective of testing order.
- When breathalyzer tests preceded interviews, no patients reporting no alcohol use tested positive.
- When tests followed interviews, one patient reporting no alcohol use tested positive.
Conclusions:
- Self-reported absence of alcohol consumption is generally reliable in ER injury populations.
- Obtaining breathalyzer readings prior to patient interviews may enhance data accuracy and reduce potential biases.
- The timing of breathalyzer testing does not significantly impact refusal rates but can affect data acquisition for other reasons.