Detection of the ethanol consumption markers ethyl glucuronide and ethyl sulfate in urine samples from inmates of two German prisons.

Introduction: Abstinence from ethanol is necessary in various situations. Among these are jail terms. Nevertheless, it is a matter of fact that ethanol is illegally produced and ingested in prisons. So far, data regarding drug prevalence in jail have mainly been collected by questionnaires. To get an objective database for the prevalence of ethanol consumption in jail, a cross-sectional study was performed.

Methods: Inmates of two German prisons (Offenburg and Freiburg) were asked to give a urine sample at an unknown and random point of time. Participation was voluntary and did lead to neither negative consequences nor benefits. All samples were anonymized. Using the consumption markers ethyl glucuronide (EtG) and ethyl sulfate (EtS), the urine samples were tested for previous ethanol consumption. Analyses were performed by a validated liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method.

Results: In total 676 male inmates participated in this study. The participation rate was 70-75% of all permanent inmates in Offenburg and 30.6% in Freiburg. Ten of the 555 (1.8%) samples from Offenburg and 1 of the 121 (0.8%) samples from Freiburg were positive for ethanol consumption markers with concentrations ranging from trace amounts to 1400 ng/mL for EtG and up to 510 ng/mL for EtS, respectively.

Conclusions: The number of participants in this study was rather high, so that the results represent a good cross section, at least for Offenburg, the jail with the higher number of positive samples.