The Influence of Breath Temperature on Assessments of Blood Alcohol Level by Breath Analysis

Simultaneous measurements of breath alcohol and breath temperature were made in 10 human subjects during the course of several expirations. Breath alcohol concentrations were found to increase during expiration (mean 22.6%). This increase was not generally correlated with increase in breath temperature. Based on assumed values for the partition constant, increases in breath alcohol were predicted from the observed changes in breath temperature. These predicted values (mean 7.16%, median 6.8%) were generally smaller than the observed values (mean 22.6%, median 20.5%). The extent to which the observed rises in breath alcohol may be attributed to the rises in breath temperature decreases as the rise in breath alcohol increases. For most subjects, change in breath temperature does not provide an adequate explanation of change in breath alcohol during a single expiration

Alcohol · Blood alcohol · Breath gas analysis · Injury prevention · Medical emergency · Poison control · Advanced Chemical Sensor Technologies · Alcohol Consumption and Health Effects · Chemistry · Emergency Medicine · Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic Control · Medicine