This method is unreliable after four hours or less and not much use in family law cases unless the subject of the test was a severe alcoholic. Parents with less severe drinking problems, but problems nonetheless, could easily slip through the net simply by avoiding a drink for a few hours. This inherent unreliability in testing for Ethyl Alcohol is why ten years ago I began advocating for EtG testing to validate a parent's abstinence. It certainly beat the then current Ethyl Alcohol testing system with its tiny 4-hour window.
Over the last ten years that EtG testing has been available, studies show that the 70 - hour window is incorrect.
Still, a much larger window for detection than 4 hours or less. Many family law professionals still operate on the notion of a 70 - hour testing period. Failure of family law to get up to speed with the current understanding of EtG testing is alarming with consequences too numerous to outline in this blog. When we began using EtG testing the big concern was false positive results. Because of the concerns the EtG cut off level was raised to ng.
Today the big concern is false negative results. From personal anecdotes and professional experience I conclude that EtG false positive are occurring more often than not. Further exacerbating the problem, research isn't consistently pointing to false negatives as being problematic see SAMHSA opinion below. Advisories released by SAMHSA, one in and another in , make it clear that a positive EtG test is inconclusive in determining consumption of alcohol meaning that an EtG is capable of producing a false positive reading.
The advisory goes on to state that a negative EtG is convincing enough proof that an individual has NOT recently imbibed - at least for the 24 - 48 hours before testing occurred. Take note of those numbers, 24 - 48 hours, not 70 - 80 hours. The advisories also provided guidance on what a positive result may indicate. I have only included the - 1, ng here, as this is the range typically used by family law. It's clear from the latter guidelines that the EtG is useful in identifying heavy alcohol abuse, but not a catch all test.
Participants were categorized into one of the four groups: tee-totallers consuming 0 units a week , lower-risk drinkers units a week , increasing-risk drinkers' consuming units a week and high-risk drinkers over 50 units a week. The results showed that EtG was detected in 29 out of hair samples. EtG sensitivity was highest for high-risk drinkers consuming more than 50 units a week. A negative result does not provide good evidence for abstinence negative predictive value, 0.
EtG can be used qualitatively to indicate alcohol consumption with a positive result providing strong evidence for an individual drinking within the past 3 months.
It would appear from the above studies that EtG testing is not the 'one size fits all solution' family law would like it to be, even though they are treating it as such. EtG tests become more reliable with higher volume consumption, higher cut off levels, and increased frequency of the random testing. Therefore, a professional using EtG testing should possess the knowledge, skills, and experience to use it effectively. The EtG test is used to determine if someone is using alcohol when they should be abstaining from drinking.
Some of the many situations where this test might be used include:. In many of these scenarios the person is being given the test because it is the best interests of their health or for the well-being of others. It is important to understand this because the administrators of the tests are very serious about the results. It is also important to note that the EtG test is not typically used when a person is suspected of alcohol use while driving or at work.
In those situations, where impairment is suspected, a breathalyzer test is typically employed. Breath or saliva tests can no longer detect alcohol once it has been naturally eliminated from the body so using these tests to confirm that a person is abstinent is hard unless the patient is tested at a minimum of once per day. The shortened effective time from of these tests is one of the reasons that the EtG test was developed.
The EtG test is highly sensitive and can detect the presence of alcohol at extremely low levels. For patients who are suffering from alcohol use disorder AUD , the EtG test has been able to detect alcohol in urine up to 5 days after consuming it.
For people who do not have an alcohol use disorder, it can be detected in urine up to 80 hours after consumption. Ethyl Glucuronide EtG is a metabolite of ethyl alcohol. When a person consumes alcohol, the body breaks it down into different metabolites and one of them is EtG. EtG remains present in the body for about one to five days after drinking alcohol, depending on the quantity a person consumes. The EtG test is very helpful when monitoring abstinence from alcohol.
An EtG test can confirm that a person did not consume alcohol in the days prior to the test when a breathalyzer can't. The concern about EtG testing is that it is extremely sensitive and can produce false positives if a person has been exposed to alcohol in even tiny amounts.
Some of the common ethanol-containing products that can produce false positives in EtG testing include:. It kept me on the right track and in the right headspace. So, what is an EtG test? Glad you asked.
Simply put, an EtG test is a test that can determine if someone has had alcohol in their body. It might be kind of confusing though, because an EtG test does not test for alcohol itself. EtG stands for ethyl glucuronide, which is a substance produced in the liver when your body processes alcohol. The EtG test is actually testing for this substance using small strips that are either dipped in urine, or have small droplets of urine dropped onto them.
Timelines for how long your system will show signs of EtG are different depending on who you ask. Some studies show EtG is detectible from 24 to hours after the alcohol is processed, but others say between 24 and 72 hours, all depending on the amount of alcohol that entered your body.
Another factor is the differences in our bodies. Even further , the level of urine stored in your bladder can have an effect on how much EtG is detectible. You would be required to give a urine sample, usually in one of those little plastic containers with a lid. The person doing the test would then utilize a kit containing one or more strips that have different colored squares on them, although not all test kits are like this.
The EtG test is sensitive enough they can detect EtG resulting even from a small amount of alcohol entering your body. They quickly became the go-to test in situations where abstinence from alcohol was being watched.
Since the EtG test is so sensitive it has to be used with caution and the full knowledge, both from the tester and the person receiving the test, that false positives are possible.
One way this is particularly difficult to deal with right now is the prevalence of hand sanitizer. A study by the National Center for Biotechnology Information found that hand sanitizer and other products containing propanol can lead to false positives.
You may not know all of the products in your house containing alcohol. Some of them include aftershave, certain antiperspirants, mouthwash, and quite a few other things.
If you are going to be taking an EtG test in the future the best thing to do is get a list from the treatment center or whoever is doing the test, and do your best to steer clear of the products listed as containing alcohol of some sort.
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