TY - JOUR
T1 - Validating transdermal alcohol biosensors
T2 - a meta-analysis of associations between blood/breath-based measures and transdermal alcohol sensor output
AU - Yu, Jiachen
AU - Fairbairn, Catharine E.
AU - Gurrieri, Laura
AU - Caumiant, Eddie P.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by National Institutes of Health grants R01AA025969 and R01AA028488 to C.E.F. Our thanks to Dahyeon Kang, Brynne Velia, Jack Fredricks and the students and staff of the alcohol research laboratory for their support with early versions of this review. C.E.F. received transdermal devices at discounted rates from BACtrack for the purposes of performing validation research. BACtrack did not have a role in conducting, evaluating or disseminating the research.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors. Addiction published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society for the Study of Addiction.
PY - 2022/11
Y1 - 2022/11
N2 - Background and aims: Transdermal alcohol sensors carry immense promise for the continuous assessment of drinking but are inconsistent in detecting more fine-grained indicators of alcohol consumption. Prior studies examining associations between transdermal alcohol concentration (TAC) and blood/breath alcohol concentration (BAC) have yielded highly variable correlations and lag times. The current review aimed to synthesize transdermal validation studies, aggregating results from more than three decades of research to characterize the validity of transdermal sensors for assessing alcohol consumption. Methods: Databases were searched for studies listed prior to 1 March 2022 that examined associations between transdermal alcohol sensor output and blood and breath-based alcohol measures, resulting in 31 primarily laboratory-derived participant samples (27 precise effect sizes) including both healthy and clinical populations. Correlation coefficients and lag times were pooled using three-level random-effects meta-regression. Independent raters coded study characteristics, including the body position of transdermal sensors (ankle- versus arm/hand/wrist-worn device) and methodological bias (e.g. missing data). Results: Analyses revealed that, in this primarily laboratory-derived sample of studies, the average correlation between TAC and BAC was large in magnitude [r = 0.87, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.80, 0.93], and TAC lagged behind BAC by an average of 95.90 minutes (95% CI = 55.50, 136.29). Device body position significantly moderated both TAC–BAC correlation (b = 0.11, P = 0.009) and lag time (b = −69.41, P < 0.001). Lag times for ankle-worn devices were approximately double those for arm/hand/wrist-worn devices, and TAC–BAC correlations also tended to be stronger for arm/hand/wrist-worn sensors. Conclusions: This meta-analysis indicates that transdermal alcohol sensors perform strongly in assessing blood/breath alcohol concentration under controlled conditions, with particular promise for the newer generation of wrist-worn devices.
AB - Background and aims: Transdermal alcohol sensors carry immense promise for the continuous assessment of drinking but are inconsistent in detecting more fine-grained indicators of alcohol consumption. Prior studies examining associations between transdermal alcohol concentration (TAC) and blood/breath alcohol concentration (BAC) have yielded highly variable correlations and lag times. The current review aimed to synthesize transdermal validation studies, aggregating results from more than three decades of research to characterize the validity of transdermal sensors for assessing alcohol consumption. Methods: Databases were searched for studies listed prior to 1 March 2022 that examined associations between transdermal alcohol sensor output and blood and breath-based alcohol measures, resulting in 31 primarily laboratory-derived participant samples (27 precise effect sizes) including both healthy and clinical populations. Correlation coefficients and lag times were pooled using three-level random-effects meta-regression. Independent raters coded study characteristics, including the body position of transdermal sensors (ankle- versus arm/hand/wrist-worn device) and methodological bias (e.g. missing data). Results: Analyses revealed that, in this primarily laboratory-derived sample of studies, the average correlation between TAC and BAC was large in magnitude [r = 0.87, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.80, 0.93], and TAC lagged behind BAC by an average of 95.90 minutes (95% CI = 55.50, 136.29). Device body position significantly moderated both TAC–BAC correlation (b = 0.11, P = 0.009) and lag time (b = −69.41, P < 0.001). Lag times for ankle-worn devices were approximately double those for arm/hand/wrist-worn devices, and TAC–BAC correlations also tended to be stronger for arm/hand/wrist-worn sensors. Conclusions: This meta-analysis indicates that transdermal alcohol sensors perform strongly in assessing blood/breath alcohol concentration under controlled conditions, with particular promise for the newer generation of wrist-worn devices.
KW - Alcohol biosensors
KW - blood alcohol concentration
KW - body location
KW - meta-analysis
KW - temporal sensitivity
KW - transdermal
KW - validation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85131758124&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85131758124&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/add.15953
DO - 10.1111/add.15953
M3 - Review article
C2 - 35603913
AN - SCOPUS:85131758124
SN - 0965-2140
VL - 117
SP - 2805
EP - 2815
JO - Addiction
JF - Addiction
IS - 11
ER -