Evaluation of drug abuse test analysis: One year experience

INTRODUCTION: Drug abuse is a major problem for public health and it has negative impacts on people's health. Drug analysis methods used in our country vary, but the results show that drug abuse is an increasing problem in our country compared to previous years. In our hospital, drug urine screen tests are performed to analyze amphetamines, benzodiazepines, cannabinoids, cocaine, and their metabolites, opiates, and synthetic cannabinoids. Our research aimed to evaluate the frequency of drug use according to age and gender.
METHODS: A total of 2172 amphetamine, 2172 benzodiazepine, 2172 cannabinoids, 2169 cocaine and cocaine metabolites, 2168 opiates, and 1906 synthetic cannabinoid analysis results were included in our study. Analyses were performed by Advia® (Siemens Healthineers, Erlangen, Germany) autoanalyzer with a homogeneous immunoassay method that enables qualitative or semi-quantitative analysis of analytes. At every stage of our study, we worked in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.
RESULTS: The results were as follows: 1989 (91.6%) were negative, 183 (8.4%) were positive for amphetamine, 1924 (88.6%) were negative, and 248 (11.4%) were positive for benzodiazepine; 2057 (94.7%) were negative and 115 (5.3%) were positive for cannabinoids; 2157 (99.4%) were negative and 12 (0.6%) were positive for cocaine and its metabolites; and 1865 (97.8%) were negative and 41 (2.2%) were positive for synthetic cannabinoids. Males' positive results for amphetamine (p<0.001), cannabinoid (p<0.001), and opiates (p=0.026) were statistically significant when compared according to gender. The adult group's positive results for amphetamine (p<0.001), cannabinoid (p<0.001), and synthetic cannabinoids (p=0.046) were statistically significant when compared according to age.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Sharing drug positivity situations in different age groups and genders may help to draw attention to this problem and maybe preventive. More studies including more than one year of results may be beneficial.