Kinetics of ethanol and methanol in alcoholics during detoxification.

We investigated the kinetics of ethanol and methanol in 20 dependent alcoholics (16 men and four women) during the first 24 hr after admission to hospital for detoxification. The blood-ethanol concentration (BEC) on admission ranged from 238 to 489 mg/dl (mean 386 mg/dl). The mean rate of ethanol disappearance from the blood was 23 mg/dl/hr with a spread from 13 to 36 mg/dl/hr. The concentrations of methanol in blood at the start of detoxification ranged from 0.16 to 2.8 mg/dl (mean 1.15 mg/dl) and these levels remained more or less unchanged until the BEC had dropped below 30 mg/dl. The concentrations of ethanol and methanol in blood at the start of detoxification were not correlated (r = 0.032, P > 0.05). The results of this study do not support the notion that the metabolism of methanol in chronic alcoholics proceeds independently of the prevailing BEC. We found a three-fold difference in the rate of disappearance of ethanol from blood in alcohol-dependent subjects.