Alcoholism includes a strong and uncontrollable desire of a person to drink. Alcohol is one of the most abused drinks globally and is often linked to violent actions and crimes. That’s why it is vital to deter someone’s alcohol abuse.
THE PURPOSE OF ALCOHOL TESTING
Alcohol testing is done to determine the presence of alcohol in the patient’s body. It is only a part of the alcohol screening; wherein clinical professionals administer psychological and behavioral questionnaires to the patient. After the screening, the clinical professional may ask the patient to undergo a test like a saliva alcohol testing to detect alcohol quantity that the suspected alcoholic might recently ingest.
Additionally, alcohol tests may be facilitated due to these reasons;
– As part of pre-employment screening or workplace testing program
– To test people who are on probation because of alcohol-related violation
– To check alcohol abstinence of people who are granted visitation or children custody
– To ensure alcohol abstinence of drivers who are convicted of alcohol-related crimes
WHAT IS BLOOD ALCOHOL CONTENT?
In the US, you will be considered as legally intoxicated by the authorities if they’ve detected 0.08% or more blood alcohol content (BAC) in your system.
BAC is the percentage of alcohol present in someone’s blood. It is used to measure one’s alcohol intoxication. BAC can be significantly affected by several factors such as age, weight, drinking alcohol with an empty stomach, medications, liver disease, or binge drinking.
WHAT ARE THE TYPES OF ALCOHOL TESTS?
There are several ways to detect the presence of alcohol in someone’s system. The health practitioner can use different specimens like breath, urine, saliva, blood, and hair.
Breath. A breathalyzer uses a person’s breath and usually gives an instant test result. It is commonly used by the law enforcer to determine if the person is intoxicated or not, especially while driving. Alcohol can be detected via breathalyzer for up to 24 hours after alcohol consumption.
Urine. Testing the alcohol level using urine is commonly used by the companies to test their workforce since it is cheaper and easier to administer than the other methods. This method is useful in testing the person’s intoxication two hours of alcohol consumption. Additionally, the frequency of alcohol consumption can’t be determined by the urine test alone.
Saliva. Another effective yet inexpensive way to test alcohol ingestion is through saliva alcohol testing. However, a patient who used saliva alcohol test may need to undergo an additional test such as a breathalyzer or blood test. A saliva alcohol test is commonly used for DOT-mandated alcohol tests.
Blood. It is the most invasive type of alcohol screening, yet it provides an accurate test result. A blood test is also used to confirm a positive alcohol screening result. If consumed within 12 hours before the screening, the alcohol will show up positive in the result.
Hair. This type of alcohol test has the ability to detect someone’s alcoholism since hair acts as a record of one’s alcohol consumption. However, testing positive under hair tests still needs laboratory confirmation, and getting the result might also take a while.