Uncertainty of carboxyhaemoglobin determination in putrefied blood by headspace gas chromatography

The uncertainty of carboxyhaemoglobin (COHb) determination in post-mortem blood samples by headspace gas chromatography with the use of methanizer and flame ionization detector was estimated. Four main components of uncertainty were identified, i.e. calibration, measurement repeatability, standard solutions preparation and sample preparation, and their contributions to the combined uncertainty were determined. The calibration step was the dominating source of uncertainty, counting for more than 39 % of overall variance. The contribution of remaining sources to the combined uncertainty was lower than 31 % (measurement repeatability), 21 % (standards preparation) and 12 % (sample preparation). The calculated absolute expanded uncertainty in samples containing 3.8–82 % mass fraction of COHb ranged between 2.2 % and 2.6 % (coverage factor 2), depending only slightly on the analyte level in the analysed sample.