Prevalence of psychoactive substances in truck drivers in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region (France)
Introduction
There is increasing interest in the incidence of drugs in driving and in their contribution to road trauma specifically [1], [2], [3]. The prevalence of alcohol and drugs in fatally injured drivers were described in Australia for the period of 1990–1999 [2]. Alcohol (>0.5 g/L in blood) was present in 29.1% of all drivers (cars, motorcycles, trucks) and drugs of abuse or drugs (cannabinoids, cocaine, methadone, opiates, etc.) were present in 26.7%.
In Europe, not much is known on workplace drug testing, often performed on site and it is difficult to obtain reliable information [4]. Few studies have reported prevalence of drugs of abuse in workplace [2], [5], [6], [7]. In 1995, Haguenoer et al. observed alcohol in 5.4% and cannabinoids in 10.2% of workers in safety/security posts in the North of the France [5]. In the Australian study, alcohol was present in 8.6% of truck drivers [2] and cannabinoids had a larger prevalence in motorcycles (22.2%) whereas stimulants such as MDMA, cocaine or ephedrine were more often found in truck drivers (23%).
In order to verify the trend since the study realised in 1995 in the north of the France, the local group “Toxicomanie et Travail” has initiated a multicenter study in truck drivers. The purpose of this study was to measure the prevalence of alcohol and substances altering vigilance in safety/security posts in workplaces and to standardize occupational medicine practice to harmonize prevention and the course of action in the case of positive detection.
Section snippets
Study population
Only truck drivers (n = 1000) were included. The urines were collected from four different areas: (1) Regional transportation Center of Lesquin (Nord), (2) Multimodal platform of Hénin-Beaumont (Pas-de-Calais), (3) Transportation companies of Douai (Nord) and (4) Formation center for adults of Douai-Cantin (Nord). In this last area, drivers were training to obtain the truck driver's license.
The urines were collected during annual examinations, before recruitment of new drivers (pre-employment
Results
The study was started in 2003. A total of 1000 urine specimens have been collected for analysis in July 2004. The proportion of males was 99.2%. The mean age was 36.7 ± 9.8 years.
Fig. 1 describes the distribution of truck drivers by day of sampling, age and medical examination type. Nearly 80% of the subjects were less than 45 years old.
The urine samples were tested for opiates, cannabinoids, cocaine metabolites, amphetamines, buprenorphine, methadone, benzodiazepines and ethanol. Table 1 shows
Discussion
Few studies have reported the prevalence of drugs of abuse in the workplace in Europe [4]. In our study, 1000 truck drivers have been included allowed improvement of knowledge on workplace drug abuse in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region for safety/security posts. Workers and employers have been informed of the study but urine samples have been collected anonymously.
All specimens were initially screened for drugs (except alcohol and buprenorphine) using an immunoassay technique. This first screening
Conclusion
Prevalence results of this study confirm those of Haguenoer et al. in safety/security workstations for cannabinoids and ethanol. The number of positive cases for amphetamines, opiates and benzodiazepines are lower. For the other drugs, no results were described in the previous study.
Now, there is an increasing interest concerning the incidence of drugs, in particular ethanol and cannabinoids in fatally injured drivers and we hope that these results will have an influence in France for
Acknowledgments
The authors thank all the members of the regional network “Addiction and Workplace”: Dr. J.C. Archange (SNCF Lille), Dr. J.M. Brillet and Dr. A. Chatfield (DRTEFP Lille), Dr. B. Pamart (Renault, Douai), Dr. P. Pradeau (Cogéma, La Hague), D. Vanberkel and S. Vandenbussche (ISTNF Lille).
This study had been supported by a Regional Health program (PRS CCAR 2002-447) and by ISTNF (Institut de Santé au Travail du Nord de la France).
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2016, Disease-a-MonthCitation Excerpt :Conversely, in another Brazilian study of truck drivers, urine drug testing was positive for cocaine in 4.8% and amphetamine in 1.6% of drivers.23 In a study of 1000 truck drivers in France in 2003–2004, the most commonly detected drug in the urine was cannabinoids (8.5%), followed by opiates (4.1%), amphetamines (0.3%), and cocaine (0.1%).29 Urine ethanol was positive in 5% of drivers.
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2014, Accident Analysis and PreventionExamining the impact of opioid analgesics on crash responsibility in truck drivers involved in fatal crashes
2014, Forensic Science InternationalCitation Excerpt :Conversely, the use of fatally injured drivers as a study sample population provides an over-estimate of prevalence rates within the wider truck driver population [13]. Finally, these prevalence studies [13,14,20,21] have not addressed long-term trends and may not accurately reflect current prevalence rates, especially considering the recent dramatic increase in the prescribing and use of OAs in the general population. It should be noted that even a low prevalence of opioid use can translate into a considerable absolute number of opioid users, given that, in 2012, there were 5,700,000 CMV drivers operating in the U.S. alone [22].
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2012, Forensic Science InternationalCitation Excerpt :However, hair, which is known to be characterized by wider time detection window than urine, was used. As regards the distribution of drug classes between positive workers (Table 2), it must be noted that this study does not differ from other recent studies, where THC is by far the most frequently detected drug class, followed by either cocaine or opiates [13,19]. It is worth noting that, as regards age distribution (Fig. 1) younger workers (<35 yo) are more likely to test positive (Chi square, p < 0.0001).
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