Widmark factors for local Chinese in Hong Kong: A statistical determination on the effects of various physiological factors

Abstract

The Widmark formula has been widely adopted in forensic applications to drink driving cases for the last 70 years. It is known that the amount of alcohol consumed and the body weight of the drinkers are important information for the estimation of blood alcohol concentration (BAC). However, the direct application of the Widmark factors derived from Caucasian to the calculation of BAC for the Chinese population often encounters serious challenges. Owing to this inherent weakness, a thorough analysis to determine the theoretical Widmark factors for the Chinese population, r0 at the start of drinking and the practical factors, rpeak, at peak BAC was conducted. In the present study, other factors such as gender, stomach condition and other physiological conditions are taken into account. The determined theoretical Widmark factors, r0, for local Chinese male and female are 0.68 and 0.59 (with BAC in the units of weight/volume), respectively, demonstrating the applicability of the Widmark formula to the Chinese population. The practical factors at peak BAC, rpeak, were also determined to serve the forensic purpose of refuting the "hip-flask" defence in drink driving cases. Findings show that gender and stomach condition are the key factors that could statistically explain the variability of both r0 and r peak. © 2004 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.