How Long Can A Urinalysis Detect Alcohol?

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Various organizations and companies have established random alcohol tests and employ urine tests to check for alcohol in their employees. Obviously, a number of people who work in such companies and organization are asking the following: "how long can a urinalysis detect alcohol"?

Please continue reading for an answer to this and other relevant questions pertaining to alcohol testing in general and urine alcohol testing in particular.

The Employment of Urine Alcohol Tests In the Workplace

image: nurse checking pulse of elderly alcoholic man Many people who drink alcoholic beverages work for employers who have random alcohol tests. While many of these places of employment use saliva tests, blood tests, or breathalyzer tests, many of them, however, use urine tests to check for alcohol.

Under these circumstance, it seem quite understandable that employees might ask the following: "how long can a urinalysis detect alcohol"?

With so many different types of tests that are available, it may be asked why urine tests are employed. Urine alcohol tests are used for the following reasons:

They are relatively inexpensive
They are the most likely of all drug-testing methods to withstand legal challenge
They have a high assurance of reliable results
They provide the most flexibility in testing different drugs, including alcohol and nicotine

The All-Important Blood Alcohol Content Level

Without a doubt, people who are employed at work places that use urine alcohol tests often ask the following question: how long can a urinalysis detect alcohol? To help answer this question, please take the following information into account.

image: x-ray of skull of chronic alcoholic The amount of alcohol in the blood is called blood alcohol concentration or blood alcohol content level (BAC). Alcohol is metabolized at the rate of .015 of (BAC) every hour.

For example, an individual with a BAC of .15 (almost twice the legal limit for driving in all 50 states) will have no measurable alcohol in his or her blood 10 hours after consuming the last drink (.15 divided by .015 = 10).

If a person is driving and gets pulled over by the police, the police can administer a blood alcohol test (usually done by a breathalyzer test). If the person has a blood alcohol concentration of .08 or higher, she or he is considered to be driving "under the influence" (DUI).

An individual with a blood alcohol content level of .08 will have no measurable alcohol in the bloodstream roughly 5.33 hours after the last drink (.08 divided by .015 = 5.33).

The following represents mild to moderate physical withdrawal symptoms that typically occur within 6 to 48 hours after the last alcoholic drink: enlarged or dilated pupils, pulsating headaches, tremor of the hands, loss of appetite, vomiting, clammy skin, abnormal movements, sweating (especially on the palms of the hands or on the face), rapid heart rate, looking pale, involuntary movements of the eyelids, sleeping difficulties, and nausea.

The EtG Urine Alcohol Test

With some urine alcohol tests, alcohol can be detected up to approximately 48 hours after an individual has consumed alcohol. With the EtG Urine Alcohol Test, conversely, the presence of EtG in the urine reveals that ethanol alcohol was ingested within the past 3 or 4 days, or approximately 80 hours after the ethanol alcohol has been metabolized by the person's body.

As a result, it can be shown that a urine alcohol test employing EtG is a more accurate indicator of the recent consumption of alcohol as compared to simply measuring for the existence of ethanol alcohol (which is done by numerous urine alcohol tests).

Research has demonstrated that American children who are raised in single-family households are almost twice as likely to experience an alcohol-related problem such as alcohol abuse as compared with children who are raised by both parents in the same household.

Let's use one of the above examples to further illustrate the ramifications of the EtG Urine Alcohol Test. As noted above, a person with a blood alcohol concentration of .15 will have no measurable alcohol in his or her bloodstream 10 hours after the last drink. With the EtG Urine Alcohol Test, nevertheless, the presence of EtG in the urine reveals that ethanol alcohol was consumed within the past 80 hours or so (which could mean many hours after the ethanol alcohol has been metabolized by the body).

Recently in some states, another type of "driving under the influence" has been identified, namely, driving under the combined influence of alcohol and other drugs. Interestingly, the drugs contributing to the impaired condition do not need to be illegal. That is, these "other drugs" can be legal prescriptions or even over-the-counter remedies
and treatments.

A moment's reflection on what this means will be worthwhile. No, the EtG Urine Alcohol Test cannot show how much alcohol a person ingested, but it can, by way of comparison, detect alcohol consumption after the alcohol has been metabolized by the body.

This is a point of considerable importance: If the individual, for instance, has articulated that he or she has discontinued drinking for any period of time, the EtG Urine Alcohol Test will reveal that he or she is not being truthful.

Alcohol dependence and alcohol abuse cost the United States an estimated $220 billion in 2005. This dollar amount was more than the cost associated with obesity ($133 billion) or with cancer
($196 billion).

How Long Can A Urinalysis Detect Alcohol: Conclusion

As they say when something becomes obvious, the writing is on the wall. That is, as long as companies and organizations lose substantial amounts of money and "person-hours" to alcohol abuse, they will continue to employ random alcohol tests. While many of these workplaces use blood tests, breathalzyer tests, or saliva tests, a number of them, however, use urine tests to check for alcohol. Why is this important?

This is significant mainly because EtG urine alcohol tests can detect alcohol in the urine 80 hours after the ethanol alcohol has been metabolized by a person's body. So the moral of the story is this: if you are a drinker and your employers uses random urine alcohol tests, it might be a good idea to abstain from drinking alcohol during the work week. Then you won't have to ask the following: "how long can a urinalysis detect alcohol"?

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The following represents some of the negative consequences of drinking alcohol and the fertility and health issues of the mother and/or the baby: altered estrogen and progesterone levels; numerous ovulatory dysfunctions; increased risk for a pre-term birth, stillbirth, or a miscarriage; hypothalmic-pituitary-ovarian dysfunction resulting in the lack of ovulation, the abnormal development of the endometrial lining; the absence of menses; increased risk of fetal alcohol syndrome and possible congenital heart defects and brain anomalies; possible mental retardation in the baby; increased menstrual problems and gynecologic surgery; impaired fetal growth and development; increased risk for spontaneous abortion; and infertility.

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