The CDT test is the most popular alcohol test and is used by the DVLA and courts to check if people have been drinking too much. CDT is a blood test that checks for excessive alcohol consumption over the previous 7-14 days. The CDT test can be done at the laboratory in London, or by post for people living outside London.
The PEth test is a blood test that checks for excessive alcohol intake over the previous 3-4 weeks. It checks for a longer period of excessive alcohol consumption that a CDT test.
A urine EtG test can be used to check for alcohol misuse. It can check for alcohol misuse in the previous 5 days. Nowadays, a CDT test is more useful, but a urine EtG test is easier to do, and can be used when a CDT is not possible because of genetic blood variants in the client.
Blood and urine alcohol tests check for actual alcohol in the blood or urine at the time of the test. The result of a blood and urine alcohol test depends on how much alcohol the person has drunk in the previous day and how many hours ago. Alcohol is quickly removed from the body so these tests are not as useful as CDT and PEth tests.
The Alcohol Profile Blood Test checks for alcohol misuse by testing for CDT and PEth. It also tests for the effects of longterm alcohol consumption on the body such as liver function tests and MCV. It works out less expensive to do the Alcohol Profile Blood Test than to do all these tests separately.
This checks for damage to the liver from alcohol and drug misuse.