Abstract
In calculating blood alcohol concentration for both experimental and nomographic applications, use of the Widmark equation is typical. This equation deals with the relationships among ingested alcohol, body weight, and blood alcohol concentration. There are a number of problems associated with the equation, most of which arise as a consequence of the fact that the formula largely ignores the absorptive part of the alcohol curve. The focus of the current paper, then, was to survey these problem areas and to evaluate their impact on the use of the equation in the two aforementioned applications.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Benes, V. (1979). Descriptions of a standard model of alcohol intoxication for functional tests of higher nervous activities. Activitas Nervosa Superior, 16, 88–90.
Dussault, P. and Chappel, C. I. (1974). Difference in blood alcohol levels following consumption of whiskey or beer in man. Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Alcohol, Drugs, and Traffic Safety. Toronto, Canada: Addiction Research Foundation of Ontario.
Feldstein, A. (1978). The metabolism of alcohol: On the validity of the Widmark equations, in obesity, and in racial and ethnic groups. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 39, 926–932.
Goldberg, L. (1943). Quantitative studies on alcohol tolerance in man. Acta Physiologia Scandinavia, 5 (16), 1–128.
Jones, B. M. and Jones, J. K. (1976). Women and alcohol: Intoxication, metabolism, and the menstrual cycle. In M. Greenblatt and M. A. Schuckit (Eds.), Alcoholism problems in women and children. New York: Grune and Stratton.
Jones, B. M. and Vega, A. (1973). Fast and slow drinkers. BAC variations and cognitive performance. Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 34, 797–806.
Kalant, H. and Reed, T. E. (1978). Limitations of the Widmark calculation: a reply to Feldstein’s critique. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 39, 933–936.
O’Neill, B., Williams, A. F., and Dubowski, K. M. (1983). Variability in blood alcohol concentrations. Implications for estimating individual results. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 44, 222–230.
Shumate, R. P., Crowther, R. F., and Zerafshan, M. (1967). A study of the metabolism rates of alcohol in the human body. Journal of Forensic Medicine, 14, 83–100.
Welling, P. G., Lyons, L. L., Elliot, M. S., and Amidon, G. L. (1977). Pharmacokinetics of alcohol following single low doses to fasted and non-fasted subjects. Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 17, 199–206.
Widmark, E. M. P. (1981). Principles and applications of medicolegal alcohol determination. Davis, CA: Biomedical Publications.
Wilkinson, P. K., Sedman, A. J., Sakmar, E., Kay, D. R., and Wagner, J. G. (1977). Pharmacokinetics of ethanol after oral administration in the fasting state. Journal of Pharmacokinetics and Biopharmaceutics, 5, 207–224.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1987 Springer-Verlag New York Inc.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hahn, H.A. (1987). Prediction Of Blood Alcohol Concentration In Humans: Comments And Criticisms. In: Mark, L.S., Warm, J.S., Huston, R.L. (eds) Ergonomics and Human Factors. Recent Research in Psychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-4756-2_22
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-4756-2_22
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-96511-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-4612-4756-2
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive