Efficiency of Alcohol Salivary Strip Test in ‘Comparison to Breath Alcohol Analyser as Forensic Screening Tools for Blood Alcohol Analysis - A Comparative Study

Abstract

Background: Alcohol induced intoxication is responsible for altered behavior in individuals. Blood alcoholconcentration (BAC) has been the key toxicology test, which is considered as the gold standard in medico- legalevidence. BAC can be assessed by determining blood ethanol or methanol concentration. It is expensive and timeconsumingprocedure and so, it cannot be considered as primary choice for screening of alcohol consumption. Atpresent breath analysis is the most common and accepted screening procedure but there are certain limitations tothis 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 alcoholanalyzer in screening for alcohol consumption among the individuals who are suspected for drunken driving bythe city traffic police of Kannur district.Setting and Design: It’s a Prospective case control study were samples are collected from Traffic aid post inKannur 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 wereincluded 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 resultgiven by strip is easy to interpret and can easily indicate different BAC level as it is very much sensitive even at aBAC value of 0.02%.