Comparison of Two Common Forms of Drug Tests: Urine and Saliva/Oral

When considering potential employees, does your organization require drug testing?

If so, you may be interested to learn that 95% of companies that perform drug tests at their work opt for urine testing whereas just 11% conduct oral fluid (saliva) screening. It’s also worth noting that between January and December of 2021, the percentage of positive urine drug tests rose from 4.4% to 4.6%, out of a total of 7 million samples.

If your company is revising its drug testing policy, one thing to ask is how a urine drug screening test differs from a saliva drug test kit. How reliable are drug tests that use urine vs saliva?

Let’s compare and contrast saliva drug testing with urine drug tests so that you may make an informed decision for your business.

 

Drug Screening in the Worksite: Urine vs. Saliva

There are a number of substances that can be detected by both tests. Both are immunoassays, which are methods for detecting and quantifying antigens or antibodies against a target chemical or protein.

All urine and saliva tests may provide reliable findings in a matter of minutes. Don’t forget that neither method can guarantee a perfect outcome. If both tests are performed properly, however, accuracy may reach 98% or 99%.

Let’s start with what they have in common and go on to what sets them apart. To begin, let’s talk about how long it takes for these tests to get a result. If you need to check for drug use over a longer period of time, you may find that a urine test is the most convenient method (ie: pre-employment).

Alternatively, a saliva test may be preferable if you’re looking for an immediate sign of impairment.

 

Clarification of the Distinctions Between a Urine and a Saliva Drug Test Kit

It’s important to think about how the sample will be collected when deciding between a urine and saliva testing kit.

If you decide to collect urine, you’ll need to do it in a private setting. Based on corporate policies, you may need to hire specifically male or female employees to manage the operation. It might take some extra time to gather all samples since some persons may have trouble urinating.

There is no cause for concern with regards to the accuracy of drug tests performed using saliva due to the aforementioned factors. However, this does not prove that testing with oral fluids is superior than testing with urine.

The window of opportunity for drug detection in saliva testing is quite small. After 48 hours, most these tests will no longer identify drug usage.

 

Where to Get the Best Urine or Saliva Drug Test Kits

Don’t miss out on checking out DrugTestKitUSA if you’re in need of a saliva or a urine drug test kit.

The online supplier offers affordable tests that can identify adulterants in addition to a broad variety of chemicals (alcohol, amphetamines, barbiturates, cocaine, etc.) that can be detected by their products.

If you have any special demands, you may ask DrugTestKitUSA to create a custom configuration test kit just for your business needs. With such flexible configuration settings, their technicians can help any business owner create tests in whatever format is need.

Visit DrugTestKitUSA to browse their existing line of affordable and accurate drug test kits. They provide both saliva and urine drug tests.