EVALUATION OF A SALIVA ALCOHOL TEST STICK AS A THERAPEUTIC ADJUNCT INAN ALCOHOLISM-TREATMENT PROGRAM

This study was designed to evaluate the clinical usefulness of a saliv a alcohol dipstick by comparing dipstick saliva alcohol concentrations to simultaneous blood and urine alcohol concentrations. The sample co nsisted of 211 saliva tests and blood alcohol concentrations and 189 u rine alcohol concentrations. The dipsticks had a specificity of 0.965, a sensitivity of 0.895, a positive predictive value of 0.850, a negat ive predictive value of 0.977 and a Pearson's product moment correlati on coefficient of 0.609 for blood alcohol concentrations and salivary alcohol concentrations, suggesting that the saliva dipstick is useful as a qualitative test in certain settings but is less useful than prev iously reported as a semiquantitative test.