Considerations of the physiological variables that determine the blood carboxyhemoglobin concentration in man.

Abstract

were analyzed for CO concentrations with an infrared CO meter. This instrument has an error (SD) of 4-0.00004% CO and requires a 200-ml sample. These samples were col- lected during the summer of 1964. Smoking is prohibited in the areas where these samples were collected. We also measured the CO concentrations in air samples taken from smoke-filled conference rooms, a small nonventilated room that we purposely filled with smoke by burning cigarettes, and a rural area well away from automobile combustion. Diurnal changes in blood (COHb) were measured in one subject and compared with the changes in percentage of CO in his environment. Blood (COHb) was determined by a method in which gas extracted from a 2-ml blood sample is measured in the infrared CO meter. This method has an error (SD) of 40.03% (COHb)( 10).