Ethyl Glucuronide Detection via Hair Analysis
Ethyl glucuronide (EtG) is a product of alcohol metabolism and is considered a promising marker for alcohol consumption. However, the value of its measurement in blood or urine is low due to its relatively rapid elimination from these matrices.
As with drugs, metabolites of alcohol consumption can be bound into keratinised material (nails and hair) and these provide a window of detection that can run into several months. The detection of ethyl glucuronide confirms alcohol consumption and thus it is useful in monitoring recovering alcoholics to ensure abstention. A negative result does not confirm abstention due to variations in the binding ability of the hair. However, if it is shown to be present in hair that is known to have grown during the subjects active use of alcohol, then its absence in fresh hair growth provides strong support for the view that the person is abstaining from its use. Its continued detection some months after the last supposed intake would confirm that the patient has relapsed.
Ethyl glucuronide is very rarely detected in a social drinker and thus it provides a marker of alcohol abuse and as such can be useful in pre-employment and workplace testing. Abusers of alcohol are known to have a high absence rate and there is the obvious risk of impairment in their motor functions that can put themselves and others at risk if they are engaged in the operation of machinery. Thus hair and nail testing for EtG provides a valuable tool both in economic and Health and Safety terms.
