A case-control study estimating accident risk for alcohol, medicines and illegal drugs.

<h4>Background</h4>The aim of the present study was to assess the risk of having a traffic accident after using alcohol, single drugs, or a combination, and to determine the concentrations at which this risk is significantly increased.<h4>Methods</h4>A population-based case-c...

Description complète

Enregistré dans:
Détails bibliographiques
Auteurs principaux: Kim Paula Colette Kuypers, Sara-Ann Legrand, Johannes Gerardus Ramaekers, Alain Gaston Verstraete
Format: article
Langue:EN
Publié: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2012
Sujets:
R
Q
Accès en ligne:https://doaj.org/article/3ecfe58defb14c92b5dbaade346205fa
Tags: Ajouter un tag
Pas de tags, Soyez le premier à ajouter un tag!
Description
Résumé:<h4>Background</h4>The aim of the present study was to assess the risk of having a traffic accident after using alcohol, single drugs, or a combination, and to determine the concentrations at which this risk is significantly increased.<h4>Methods</h4>A population-based case-control study was carried out, collecting whole blood samples of both cases and controls, in which a number of drugs were detected. The risk of having an accident when under the influence of drugs was estimated using logistic regression adjusting for gender, age and time period of accident (cases)/sampling (controls). The main outcome measures were odds ratio (OR) for accident risk associated with single and multiple drug use. In total, 337 cases (negative: 176; positive: 161) and 2726 controls (negative: 2425; positive: 301) were included in the study.<h4>Results</h4>Main findings were that 1) alcohol in general (all the concentrations together) caused an elevated crash risk; 2) cannabis in general also caused an increase in accident risk; at a cut-off of 2 ng/mL THC the risk of having an accident was four times the risk associated with the lowest THC concentrations; 3) when ranking the adjusted OR from lowest to highest risk, alcohol alone or in combination with other drugs was related to a very elevated crash risk, with the highest risk for stimulants combined with sedatives.<h4>Conclusion</h4>The study demonstrated a concentration-dependent crash risk for THC positive drivers. Alcohol and alcohol-drug combinations are by far the most prevalent substances in drivers and subsequently pose the largest risk in traffic, both in terms of risk and scope.