Effect of short-term storage conditions on alcohol concentrations in blood from living human subjects.

We examined the effects of time, temperature, and a preservative (sodium fluoride) on ethanol concentrations in stored samples of whole blood from living human subjects. We measured the ethanol in the first, second, seventh, and 14th day of storage, by gas chromatography. Samples were stored at 0-3 degrees C and at 22-29 degrees C, with and without preservative. None of these showed significant gains or losses in concentration. The average differences between ethanol as measured on the day of collection and after storage were all within the range of experimental error of the method (+/- 5%).