Headspace gas chromatography (HSGC) was used to measure the concentrations of acetone in samples of venous whole blood from drunk drivers (n = 500), hospital outpatients with type-I diabetes mellitus (n = 250), and healthy blood donors (n = 288). The standard deviation (SD) of blood-acetone determination by HSGC was 0.048 mg/L at a mean concentration of 2.34 mg/L (2.1%). The concentration of acetone in blood did not change significantly when the samples were stored at 4°C for eight days. The ratio of the concentrations of acetone in plasma and whole blood was 1.23:1 (SD 0.229, n = 22). The frequency distributions of blood-acetone concentrations were markedly skewed to the right. The median concentration of acetone in blood from drunk drivers was 2.03 mg/L and the 2.5 and 97.5 percentiles were 0.80 and 12.8 mg/L, respectively. In patients with type-I diabetes mellitus, the median blood-acetone concentration was 1.90 mg/L and the 2.5 and 97.5 percentiles were 0.40 and 11.1 mg/L, respectively. In healthy blood donors, the median blood-acetone level was 1.26 mg/L and the 2.5 and 97.5 percentiles were 0.37 and 4.69 mg/L, respectively. The concentrations of acetone in blood did not differ appreciably among these three groups of subjects. © 1993 Oxford University Press.
