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Monitoring drug consumption in Innsbruck during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown by wastewater analysis.

ABSTRACT: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has developed into a serious pandemic with millions of cases diagnosed worldwide. To fight COVID-19 pandemic, over 100 countries instituted either a full or partial lockdown, affecting billions of people. In Tyrol, first lockdown measures were taken on 10 March 2020. On 16 March 2020, a curfew went into force which ended on 1 May 2020. On 19 March 2020, Tyrol as a whole was placed in quarantine which ended on 7 April 2020. The governmental actions helped reducing the spread of COVID-19 at the cost of significant effects on social life and behaviour. Accordingly, to provide a comprehensive picture of the population health status not only input from medical and biological sciences is required, but also from other sciences able to provide lifestyle information such as drug use. Herein, wastewater-based epidemiology was used for studying temporal trends of licit and illicit drug consumption during lockdown and quarantine in the area of the Tyrolean capital Innsbruck (174,000 inhabitants). On 35 days between 12 March 2020 and 15 April 2020, loads of 23 markers were monitored in wastewater. Loads determined on 292 days between March 2016 and January 2020 served as reference. During lockdown, changes in the consumption patterns of recreational drugs (i.e. cocaine, amphetamine, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, methamphetamine, and alcohol) and pharmaceuticals for short-term application (i.e. acetaminophen, codeine, and trimethoprim) were detected. For illicit drugs and alcohol, it is very likely that observed changes were linked to the shutdown of the hospitality industry and event cancelation which led to a reduced demand of these compounds particularly on weekends. For the pharmaceuticals, further work will be necessary to clarify if the observed declines are indicators of improved population health or of some kind of restraining effect that reduced the number of consultations of medical doctors and pharmacies.

SUBMITTER: Reinstadler V

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7681035 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:The abuse of legal and illegal drugs is a global public health problem, also affecting the social and economic well-being of the population. Thus, there is a significant interest in monitoring drug consumption. Relevant epidemiological information on lifestyle habits can be obtained from the chemical analysis of urban wastewater. In this work, passive sampling using polar organic chemical integrative samplers (POCIS) was used to quantify licit and illicit drugs biomarkers in wastewater for the application of wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE). In this WBE study, a small urban community of approximately 1179 inhabitants was monitored from 18 March 2020 to 3 March 2021, covering the mobility restriction and flexibilization periods of the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil. Consumption was estimated for amphetamine, caffeine, cocaine, MDMA, methamphetamine, nicotine, and THC. The highest estimated consumption among illicit drugs was for THC (2369 ± 1037 mg day-1 1000 inh-1) followed by cocaine (353 ± 192 mg day-1 1000 inh-1). There was a negative correlation between consumption of caffeine, cocaine, MDMA, nicotine, and THC with human mobility, expressed by cellular phone mobility reports (P-value = 0.0094, 0.0019, 0.0080, 0.0009, and 0.0133, respectively). Our study is the first long-term drug consumption evaluation during the COVID-19 pandemic, with continuous sampling for almost a whole year. The observed reduction in consumption of both licit and illicit drugs is probably associated with stay-at-home orders and reduced access, which can be due to the closure of commercial facilities during some time of the evaluated period, smaller drug supply, and reduced income of the population due to the shutdown of companies and unemployment. The assay described in this study can be used as a complementary and cost-effective tool to the long-term monitoring of drug use biomarkers in wastewater, a relevant epidemiological strategy currently limited to short collection times.

Dataset Information

Monitoring drug consumption in Innsbruck during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown by wastewater analysis.

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