Evaluation of the Analytical Performance of a Fuel Cell Breath Alcohol Testing Instrument: A Seven-Year Comprehensive Study

摘要

Between 2003 and 2009, 54,255 breath test sequences were performed on 129 AlcoSensor IV-XL evidential instruments in Orange County, CA. The overall mean breath alcohol concentration and standard deviation from these tests was 0.141±0.051g/210L. Of these test sequences, 38,580 successfully resulted in two valid breath alcohol results, with 97.5% of these results agreeing within ±0.020g/210L of each other and 86.3% within ±0.010g/210L. The mean absolute difference between duplicate tests was 0.006g/210L with a median of 0.004g/210L. Of the 2.5% of duplicate test results that did not agree within ±0.020g/210L, 95% of these had a breath alcohol concentration of 0.10g/210L or greater and 77% had an alcohol concentration of 0.15g/210L or greater. The data indicate that the AlcoSensor IV-XL can measure a breath sample for alcohol concentration with adequate precision even amid the effects of biological variations.