Detection of ethanol in urine of abstaining alcoholics.

A simple method using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was developed to determine a low concentration of ethanol in urine. The detection limit was 0.02 mM ethanol. A mean +/- SD ethanol concentration in urine of 0.21 +/- 0.17 mM was measured in 11 alcoholics after 14 days abstention, a level at least 10 times higher than that of control subjects who had no alcoholic drinks during a period of 7 days prior to the test.