IUPUI's Jay Siegel Published: "Comparison of Blood and Duplicate Breath Testing for Ethanol in Indiana" Journal of the Alcohol testing Alliance Volume 5 Number 1 April 2006

INDIANAPOLIS - 04.28.2006

Peter F. Method, Ph.D. Indiana State Departmento f Toxicology, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Indiana University School of Medicine, 950 North Meridian Street, Indianapolis, IN 46204

Jay A. Siegel, Ph.D., and Gina Londino, B.S. Forensice and Investigative Sciences Program, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, 402 North Blackford Street, LD 322, Indianapolis, IN 46202

Blood and breath test results from individuals stopped for possible OVWI (operating a vehicle while intoxicated) were compared in 408 cases from on Indiana county. Results demonstrate that a breath test result is equal to or lower than the blood test result adjusted for elimination of alcohol due to the time lag between the samples in 81.2% of the tests. The mean difference between the adjusted blood test result and the breath test result was 0.012 (range -0.027 - 0.075 g/210 L). Additionaly, comparison of pairs of breath test results, adjusted for elimination of alcohol due to the time lag betwee samples, show that the use of a single breath test is very unlikely to produce a bias against a test subject when compared to the use of two breath tests.

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