Summary
Drug testing is commonly used as a deterrent to drug use in both the workplace and criminal justice systems. While the majority of these tests are conducted in urine, an increasing number of tests are being conducted using alternative biological specimens such as hair, oral fluid, blood, and sweat. The purpose of this chapter is to review the use of sweat as a biological matrix for the testing of drugs subject to abuse. This chapter will provide an overview of the structure of the skin, describe the composition of sweat, how the body produces sweat, examine the approaches used to collect sweat for analysis, provide an overview of the history of the detection of drugs in sweat, describe analytical approaches for the testing of sweat for the presence of drugs including procedures, and finally address the interpretation of drug test results in sweat.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Potts, R. O. and Guy, R. H., The predictions of percutaneous penetration: a mechanistic model, in Dermal and Transdermal Drug Delivery, Gurney, R., and Teubner, A. Eds., CRC Press, Boca Raton Florida, 1993.
Odland, G. F., Structure of the skin, in Physiology, Biochemistry, and Molecular Biology of the Skin, Lowell A. Goldsmith M.D., Oxford University Press, New York, 3–17, 1991.
List, C. F., Physiology of sweating, Ann. Rev. Physiol., 10, 387–400, 1948.
Bucks, D. A., Maibach, H. I., and Guy, R. H., Mass balance and dose accountability in percutaneous absorption studies, Pharm. Res., 5(55), 313–315, 1988.
Randall, W. C., Special review: the physiology of sweating, Am. J. Physiol. Med., 32, 292, 1953.
Cleary, G. W., The first two decades of transdermal drug delivery systems and a peek into 1990‘s, in Dermal and Transdermal Drug Delivery, Gurney, R., Ed., Wissenchatlliche, Stuttagart, Germany, 1993, 13–32.
Sata, K. and Date, F., Individual variations in structure and function of human eccrine sweat gland, Am. J. Physiol., 245(2), R203–R208, 1983.
Randall, W. C., Quantitation and regional distribution of sweat glands in man, J. Clin. Invest., 25, 761, 1946.
Darling, R. C., diSant’ Agneses, P. A., Perera, G. A., and Andersen, D. A., Electrolyte abnormalities of sweat in fibrocystic disease of pancreas. Am. J. Med. Sci., 225, 67, 1953.
Philips, M., An improved adhesive patch for long-term collection of sweat, Biomater. Med. Devices. Artif. Organs, 8(1), 13–21, 1980.
Ishiyama, I., Nagai, T. O., Nagai, T. A., Komuro, E., Momose, T., and Akimori, N., The significance of drug analysis of sweat in respect to rapid screening for drug abuse, Z. Rechtsmed., 82, 251–256, 1979.
Pawan, G. L. S. and Grice, K., Distribution of alcohol in urine and sweat after drinking. Lancet, 2, 1016, 1968.
Smith, F. P. and Pomposini, D. A., Detection of phenobarbital in bloodstains, semen, seminal stains, saliva, saliva stains, perspiration stains, and hair. J. Forensic Sci., 26(3), 582–586, 1981.
Kidwell, D. A., Blanco, M. A., and Smith, F. P., Cocaine detections in a university population by hair analysis and skin swab testing. Forensic Sci. Int.,84, 75–86, 1997.
Conner, D., Millora, E., Zamani, N., Almirez, R., Rhyne-Kirsch, P., and Peck, C., Transcutaneous chemical collection of caffeine in normal subjects; relationships to area under the plasma concentration-time curve and sweat production, J. Invest. Dermatol., 2, 186–189, 1990.
LeGrys, V. A., Sweat testing, Clin. Chem., News, April, 1992.
Warwick, W. J., Huang, N. N., Waring, W. W., Cherian, A. G., Brown, I., Stejskal-Lorenz, E., Yeung, W. H., Duhon, G., Hill, J. G., and Strominger, D., Evaluation of a cystic fibrosis screening system incorporating a miniature sweat stimulator and disposable chloride sensor. Clin. Chem., 32(5) 850–853, 1986.
Cone, E. J., Hillsgrove, M., Jenkins, A., Keenan, R. M., and Darwin, W. D., Sweat testing for heroin, cocaine, and metabolites. J. Anal. Toxicol., 18, 298–305, 1994.
Vree, T. B., Muskens, J. M., and Van Russon, J. M., Excretion of amphetamines in sweat, Arch. Pharmacodyn., 199, 311–317, 1972.
Henderson, G. L. and Wilson, B. K., Excretion of methadone and metabolites in human sweat, Res. Commun. Chem. Pathol. Pharmacol., 5, 1–8, 1973.
Cook, C. E., Brine, D. R., Jeffcoat, A. R., Hill, J. M., Wall, M. E., Perez-Reyes, M., and DiGuiseppi, S. R., Phencyclidine disposition after intravenous and oral doses, Clin. Pharmacol. Ther., 31, 625–634, 1982.
Parnas, J., Flachs, H., Gram, L., and Wurtz-Jorgensen, A., Excretion of antiepileptic drugs in sweat. Acta Neruol. Scand., 58, 197–207, 1978.
Kacinko, S. L., Barnes, A. J., Schwilke, E. W., Cone, E. J., Moolchan, E. T., and Huestis, M. A. Disposition of cocaine and its metabolites in human sweat after controlled cocaine administration., Clin. Chem., 51, 11, 2085–2094, 2005.
Uemura, N., Nath, R. P., Harkey, M. R., Henderson, G. L., Mendelson, J., and Jones, R. T. Cocaine levels in sweat collections patches vary by location of patch placement and decline over time. J. Anal. Toxicol., 28(4), 253–259, 2004.
Burnes, M and Baselt, R. C., Monitoring drug use with a sweat patch: an experiment with cocaine. J. Anal. Toxicol., 19, 41–48, 1995.
Schwilke, E. W., Barnes, A. J., Kacinko, S. L., Cone, E. J., Moolchan, E. T., and Huestis, M. A. Opoid disposition I human sweat after controlled oral codeine administration. Clin. Chem., 52, 8, 1539–1545, 2006.
Spiehler, V., Fay, J., Fogerson, R., Schoendorfer, D. and Niedbala, R. S., Enzyme immunoassay validation for qualitative detection of cocaine in sweat, Clin. Chem., 42, 1, 34–38, 1996.
Department of Health and Human Services; Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration; Mandatory Guidelines of Federal Workplace Drug Testing Programs; Notice of Proposed Revisions. Federal Register Doc 04–7984.
Goldberger, B. A., Darwin, W. D., Grant, T. M., Allen, A. C., Caplan, Y. H., and Cone, E. J., Measurement of heroin and it’s metabolites by isotope-dilution electron-impact mass spectrometry. Clin. Chem., 39, 870–875, 1993.
Kidwell, D. and Smith, F., Susceptibility of the PharmChek Drugs of Abuse Patch to Environmental Contamination. Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC, 1999.
Crouch, D. J., Metcalf, C. L., and Slawson, M. H., An assessment of the effectiveness of the PharmChek™ sweat patch skin cleaning procedure. Bull. Inter. Assoc. Forensic Toxicol., 32(2), 5–8, 2002.
Crouch, D. J., Metcalf, C. L., Slawson, M. H., and Baudy, J., An assessment of the potential for vapor phase contamination of the PharmChek™ sweat patch. Bull. Inter. Assoc. Forensic Toxicol., 32(3), 7–10, 2002.
Sunshine, I. and Sutliff, J. P., Sweat it out, in Handbook of Analytical Drug Monitoring and Toxicology, CRC Press, Inc, Boca Raton, Florida, 253–226, 1997.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2008 Humana Press
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Fortner, N.A. (2008). The Detection of Drugs in Sweat. In: Jenkins, A.J., Caplan, Y.H. (eds) Drug Testing in Alternate Biological Specimens. Forensic Science And Medicine. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-318-9_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-318-9_6
Publisher Name: Humana Press
Print ISBN: 978-1-58829-709-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-59745-318-9
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)