Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse among Cases of Road Traffic Crashes In Port-Said General Hospitals, Egypt 2014 | ||||
| Ain Shams Journal of Forensic Medicine and Clinical Toxicology | ||||
| Article 14, Volume 24, Issue 1, January 2015, Page 145-153 PDF (684.86 K) | ||||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||||
| DOI: 10.21608/ajfm.2015.18666 | ||||
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| Authors | ||||
| Heba Mohamed1; Mohamed Seif El-din2; Ayat Tawfik3 | ||||
| 1Forensic Medicine and Clinical Toxicology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Port Said University, Port said, Egypt . | ||||
| 2Ministry of health & population, Egypt | ||||
| 3Public Health department, Faculty of Medicine, Port Said University, Port said, Egypt | ||||
| Abstract | ||||
| Background: Road traffic crashes RTC are the leading injury-related cause of death among people aged 15-44 years. A clear dose-effect relationship has been demonstrated for drugs and/or alcohol use and (RTC). Aim:The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of drug and/or alcohol use in cases admitted for RTC to emergency departments in Port-said general hospitals. Methods: In this study, conducted between January to December 2014, where 1200 cases of road traffic crashes of both sexes and their age were form 18 to 65 years were examined. Toxicological screening urine test was used to detect drugs by the emergency department staff using enzyme linked Immunosorbent assay ELISA . Alcohol and drug of abuse concentration was confirmed from blood samples at the central laboratory using Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry GC-MS . Results: Most of the cases were males, drivers and under 40 years of age. It was found that 70% of RTC occurred during winter, 34% at the weekend; Friday and most crashes (68%) were caused by trucks. At the time of crashes alcohol was positive in 18.3% of cases, cannabis positive in 27.5%, tramadol in 47.5%, amphetamine in 8 %, cocaine in 1.25% ,while sedative hypnotics drugs were positive in only 1.92%. Conclusion: The risk of road traffic crashes is greatly increased among drivers who tested positive for alcohol, in particular, those who had also ingested tramadol or more psychoactive drugs . Recommendations: Planning and implementing a national RTC risk management strategy for prevention of mortalities and morbidities due to driving under the influence of drugs. Toxicological screening should be done by immunoassay method followed by confirmation by GC-MS method | ||||
| Keywords | ||||
| Alcohol; Psychoactive drugs; Road traffic crashes | ||||
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