Evaluation of an enzyme immunoassay for determining diazepam and nordiazepam in serum and urine.

We evaluated a commercially available enzyme immunoassay method for determining the concentration of total diazepam plus its active metabolite, nordiazepam, in small amounts of serum and urine. The coefficients of variation were 5% within assay and 8% between assay. Concentrations so measured for patients' sera correlated well with those obtained both by gas chromatography with electron-capture detection and by liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection. For urine samples, the correlation between values obtained by the enzyme immunoassay method and those for total diazepam/nordiazepam/oxazepam obtained by liquid chromatography was adequate for routine clinical toxicological use. The ability of the immunoassay to determine other benzodiazepines was also evaluated.