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Letters |1 November 1993

Histamine-2-Receptor Antagonists and Serum Ethanol Levels

A. W. Jones, MD

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TO THE EDITOR:
I agree with the conclusions of Raufman and colleagues [1] that drugs such as cimetidine and ranitidine that are used to suppress the production of gastric acid do not influence the serum ethanol concentrations reached after moderate alcohol consumption. This is true when alcohol is consumed on an empty stomach as well as after a meal [2]. Accordingly, this drug-alcohol interaction, the subject of unprecedented news media attention, lacks any clinical or medicolegal relevance [3].
However, their inclusion of breath alcohol measurements raised concerns about their analysis. As shown in Table 1, peak serum ethanol concentrations reported by Raufman and colleagues are approximately 7% to 17% lower than the values estimated by breath analysis. Breath ethanol levels are always approximately 2000 times lower than the coexisting concentration in an equal volume of blood [4].
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Jones AW. Histamine-2-Receptor Antagonists and Serum Ethanol Levels. Ann Intern Med. ;119:952–953. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-119-9-199311010-00020

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Published: Ann Intern Med. 1993;119(9):952-953.

DOI: 10.7326/0003-4819-119-9-199311010-00020

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Print ISSN: 0003-4819 | Online ISSN: 1539-3704

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