Efficiency of Alcohol Salivary Strip Test in ‘Comparison to Breath Alcohol Analyser as Forensic Screening Tools for Blood Alcohol Analysis - A Comparative Study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37506/ijfmt.v16i4.18507Keywords:
Alcohol, Saliva, Breath, Blood alcohol concentration (BAC), Alcohol Salivary strips, Breathalyzer.Abstract
Background: Alcohol induced intoxication is responsible for altered behavior in individuals. Blood alcohol
concentration (BAC) has been the key toxicology test, which is considered as the gold standard in medico- legal
evidence. BAC can be assessed by determining blood ethanol or methanol concentration. It is expensive and timeconsuming
procedure and so, it cannot be considered as primary choice for screening of alcohol consumption. At
present breath analysis is the most common and accepted screening procedure but there are certain limitations to
this procedure and hence assessment of other procedures for screening is also important.
Aim and Objective: The primary aim of the study is to assess efficiency of salivary strip test vs breath alcohol
analyzer in screening for alcohol consumption among the individuals who are suspected for drunken driving by
the city traffic police of Kannur district.
Setting and Design: It’s a Prospective case control study were samples are collected from Traffic aid post in
Kannur district of Kerala for screening of suspected drunken driving.
Materials and Method: Individuals suspected of drunken driving by the city traffic police of Kannur district were
included in the study. Subjects were screened by using alcohol breath alcohol analyzer and Alcohol salivary strip.
Statistical Analysis: It was performed using SPSS 20.0. Chi square test was used for association between variables.
Results: The result shows that both salivary alcohol strip test is as effective as breath alcohol analysis.
Conclusion: Salivary alcohol test strip is rapid, economically feasible and can easily be performed. The result
given by strip is easy to interpret and can easily indicate different BAC level as it is very much sensitive even at a
BAC value of 0.02%.
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