Tam Thomas W M, Yang C T, Fung W K, Mok Vincent K K
Forensic Science Division, Government Laboratory, 88 Chung Hau Street, Ho Man Tin, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China.
Forensic Sci Int. 2005 Jun 30;151(1):23-9. doi: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2004.06.032.
The Widmark formula has been widely adopted in forensic applications to drink driving cases for the last 70 years. It is known that the amount of alcohol consumed and the body weight of the drinkers are important information for the estimation of blood alcohol concentration (BAC). However, the direct application of the Widmark factors derived from Caucasian to the calculation of BAC for the Chinese population often encounters serious challenges. Owing to this inherent weakness, a thorough analysis to determine the theoretical Widmark factors for the Chinese population, r(0) at the start of drinking and the practical factors, r(peak), at peak BAC was conducted. In the present study, other factors such as gender, stomach condition and other physiological conditions are taken into account. The determined theoretical Widmark factors, r(0,) for local Chinese male and female are 0.68 and 0.59 (with BAC in the units of weight/volume), respectively, demonstrating the applicability of the Widmark formula to the Chinese population. The practical factors at peak BAC, r(peak), were also determined to serve the forensic purpose of refuting the "hip-flask" defence in drink driving cases. Findings show that gender and stomach condition are the key factors that could statistically explain the variability of both r(0) and r(peak).
在过去70年里，维德马克公式已被广泛应用于酒驾案件的法医鉴定中。众所周知，饮酒量和饮酒者体重是估算血液酒精浓度（BAC）的重要信息。然而，将源自白种人的维德马克因子直接应用于中国人群BAC的计算时，常常会遇到严峻挑战。由于这一固有弱点，我们进行了深入分析，以确定中国人群饮酒开始时的理论维德马克因子r(0)以及BAC峰值时的实际因子r(peak)。在本研究中，还考虑了性别、胃部状况和其他生理状况等其他因素。确定的中国本地男性和女性的理论维德马克因子r(0)分别为0.68和0.59（BAC单位为重量/体积），这表明维德马克公式适用于中国人群。还确定了BAC峰值时的实际因子r(peak)，以用于法医鉴定，反驳酒驾案件中的“扁酒瓶”抗辩。研究结果表明，性别和胃部状况是能够从统计学上解释r(peak)和r(0)变异性的关键因素。
