Measurement of ethanol in Exhaled Breath Condensate and its association with starting rate and deterioration of clinical symptoms

Abstract

Introduction: Excessive Alcohol intake is the main world-wide medical and socioeconomic problem which may affect multiple organ systems in the body and lead to a variety of disorders and mortality. Clinical features of ethanol intoxication can include slurred speech, impairment of psychomotor functions, nystagmus, disinhibited behavior, euphoria, memory impairment, vomiting, agitation, respiratory disorder or coma. Overdoses of ethanol may be associated with a variety of diseases. This work examines association of ethanol concentration with starting rate and deterioration of clinical symptoms. Objective: Measurement of ethanol in Exhaled Breath Condensate and its association with starting rate and deterioration of clinical symptoms. Methods: This study was a Cross-sectional study that was conducted in 21 patients with ethanol toxicity in Sina Hospital, Tabriz, Iran. The EBC samples were collected by using a lab-made cooling trap system. then, EBC samples analyzed with GC-FID. all patients’ demographic, clinical and para-clinical data were recorded in the designed checklist and the association between ethanol concentration with starting rate and deterioration of clinical symptoms was performed. Results: In this work, The calibration graph in determination of ethanol Under the planned method provided a good linearity in the range of 500–150000 mg L−1 and good repeatability with % RSD 4.81%. The results of comparison variables with ethanol concentration showed that the correlation ethanol concentration with gender (p = 0.767), blurred vision (p = 0.041), slurred speech (p = 0.122), dizziness (p = 0.859), nausea and vomiting (p = 0.349) and lethargy (p = 0.026). The results of Spearman analysis presented, the ethanol concentration was not associated well with age, hospitalization, GCS and vital signs. Conclusion: Measured ethanol concentration in EBC does not correlate well with the clinical signs of intoxication. There was better correlation between blurred vision (p = 0.041) and lethargy (p = 0.026) with ethanol concentration.