Wilson A, Sitar D S, Molloy W D, McCarthy D
Department of Psychiatry, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada.
Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 1987 Oct;11(5):440-3. doi: 10.1111/j.1530-0277.1987.tb01919.x.
Twenty volunteers, 10 with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and 10 with no disease, ingested a vodka cocktail. Serial determinations of blood alcohol level (BAL) by gas-liquid chromatography and simultaneous Breathalyzer estimations of BAL were used to calculate blood:breath alcohol partition coefficients (PCs). Data from the present study were combined with data obtained in a previous study using identical methodology to examine the relationship between age and BAL estimation. It was found that the Breathalyzer significantly underestimated BAL as a function of age. It was hypothesized that the underestimation may be due to closing volume (CV) as the Breathalyzer samples end-expiratory breath.
