[Influence of asthma inhalers on a breath alcohol test].
BACKGROUND
People and authorities are worried about interferences in breath alcohol measurements. The influence of different inhalers on breath alcohol tests is analysed in this paper.


METHODS
We included 60 patients treated with different inhalers. They underwent a breath alcohol test before treatment and 1, 2, 3, 5 and 10 min after it.


RESULTS
Every medication led to positive readings within the first minutes of its administration. However, all values reached zero at 10 min. Patients administered higher doses and those who did not use a spacer device were found to have higher reading values.


CONCLUSIONS
Asthma inhalers, including those without alcohol contents, lead to positive readings of breath alcohol measuring devices within the first minutes. However, these interferences are no longer detected at 10 min.
Ignacio García
Juan Manuel
JM
Area de Farmacología, Departamento de Neurociencias, Universidad de Cádiz, Spain. juanmanuel.ignacio@uca.es
Ignacio García
José María
JM
Almenara Barrios
José
J
Hita Iglesias
Carmen
C
D000435:Alcoholic Intoxication / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis*; D018927:Anti-Asthmatic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001249:Asthma / Q000097:blood / Q000188:drug therapy; D001944:Breath Tests; D000431:Ethanol / Q000097:blood*; D005189:False Positive Reactions; D006801:Humans; D009330:Nebulizers and Vaporizers
D018927:Anti-Asthmatic Agents; D000431:Ethanol