Vitreous alcohol is of limited value in predicting blood alcohol.
Vitreous humour alcohol concentration (VHAC) and blood alcohol concentration (BAC) measured by gas chromatography were available from 345 medico-legal autopsies. Simple linear regression with BAC as outcome variable and VHAC as predictor variable (range 1-705 mg%) gave the regression equation BAC = 3.03 + 0.852 VHAC with 95% prediction interval +/- 0.019 square root of [7157272 + (VHAC - 189.7)2] and 99% prediction interval +/- 0.025 square root of [7157272 + (VHAC - 189.7)2]. The residual standard deviation of VHAC was 26 mg%, the standard error of the slope 0.0098 and the 95% confidence interval for the slope 0.833-0.871. In practice a BAC of 80 mg% is predicted with 95% certainty by a VHAC of 150 mg% and similarly a BAC of 150 mg% by a VHAC of 232 mg%. The prediction interval is too wide to be of real practical use. Previous authors have provided various formulae, including a simple conversion factor, to predict BAC from VHAC without taking into account the uncertainty of the prediction for an individual subject. A re-analysis of the raw data from previous publications gave in most instances regression equations significantly different from the authors' own.
Pounder
D J
DJ
Department of Forensic Medicine, University of Dundee, Scotland.
Kuroda
N
N
D000435:Alcoholic Intoxication / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis; D001344:Autopsy; D002849:Chromatography, Gas; D062787:Drug Overdose / Q000097:blood; D000431:Ethanol / Q000032:analysis* / Q000097:blood; D005554:Forensic Medicine / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D009104:Multiple Trauma / Q000097:blood; D011180:Postmortem Changes; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013405:Suicide; D014822:Vitreous Body / Q000737:chemistry*
D000431:Ethanol