Long-term monitoring of drug consumption patterns in a large-sized European city using wastewater-based epidemiology: Comparison of two sampling schemes for the assessment of multiannual trends

Krizman-Matasic, Ivona; Senta, Ivan; Kostanjevečki, Petra; Ahel, Marijan; Terzić, Senka (2019) Long-term monitoring of drug consumption patterns in a large-sized European city using wastewater-based epidemiology: Comparison of two sampling schemes for the assessment of multiannual trends. Science of the Total Environment, 647 . pp. 476-485. ISSN 0048-9697

Preview

PDF - Accepted Version - article Download (5MB) | Preview

Abstract

A comprehensive study aimed at monitoring of temporal variability of illicit drugs (heroin, cocaine, amphetamine, MDMA, methamphetamine and cannabis) and therapeutic opiate methadone in a large-sized European city using wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) was conducted in the city of Zagreb, Croatia, during an 8- year period (2009–2016). The study addressed the impact of different sampling schemes on the assessment of temporal drug consumption patterns, in particular multiannual consumption trends and documented the possible errors associatedwith the one-week sampling scheme. The highest drug consumption prevalencewas determined for cannabis (from 59 ± 18 to 156 ± 37 doses/day/1000 inhabitants 15–64 years), followed by heroin (from 11 ± 10 to 71 ± 19 doses/day/1000 inhabitants 15–64 years), cocaine (from 8.3 ± 0.9 to 23 ± 4.0 doses/day/1000 inhabitants 15–64 years) and amphetamine (from 1.3±0.9 to 21 ±6.1 doses/day/1000 inhabitants 15–64 years) whereas the consumption ofMDMAwas comparatively lower (from0.18±0.08 to 2.7 doses ±0.7 doses/day/1000 inhabitants 15–64 years). The drug consumption patterns were characterized by clearly enhanced weekend and Christmas season consumption of stimulating drugs (cocaine, MDMA and amphetamine) and somewhat lower summer consumption of almost all drugs. Pronounced multiannual consumption trends were determined for most of the illicit drugs. The investigated 8-year period was characterized by a marked increase of the consumption of pure cocaine (1.6-fold), THC (2.7-fold), amphetamine (16-fold) and MDMA (15-fold) and a concomitant decrease (2.3- fold) of the consumption of pure heroin. The heroin consumption decrease was associated with an increase of methadone consumption (1.4-fold), which can be linked to its use in the heroin substitution therapy. The estimated number of averagemethadone doses consumed in the city of Zagreb was in a good agreement with the prescription data on treated opioid addicts in Croatia.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	We are thankful to dr. sc. Marin Ganjto and the staff of central WWTP Zagreb for their assistance with the wastewater collection. Technical assistance of Nenad Muhin is highly appreciated. Epidemiological data were provided by the Croatian Institute of Public Health. The data on average drug doses in Croatia were provided by Forensic Science Centre Ivan Vucetic and Office for Combating Narcotic Drug Abuse of the Government of the Republic of Croatia. The research was financially supported by the City of Zagreb, Office for Combating Narcotic Drug Abuse of the Government of the Republic of Croatia and Croatian Science Foundation (project COMPASS, grant number IP-2014-09-7031).
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Illicit drugs ; Opioids ; Multiannual trends ; Wastewater-based epidemiology ; Zagreb ; LC-MS/MS
Subjects:	NATURAL SCIENCES > Chemistry NATURAL SCIENCES > Interdisciplinary Natural Sciences > Environmental Science
Divisions:	Division for Marine and Enviromental Research
Projects:	Project title Project leader Project code Project type Sveoubuhvatna procjena ponašanja i sudbine farmaceutski aktivnih tvari u okolišu: makrolidni antibiotici i opioidni analgetici-COMPASS Senka Terzić IP-2014-09-7031 HRZZ
Depositing User:	Senka Terzić
Date Deposited:	29 Sep 2020 08:10
URI:	http://fulir.irb.hr/id/eprint/5954
DOI:	10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.07.441

Actions (login required)

View Item