| 1. |
- Cherpitel, Cheryl J., et al.
(författare)
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Validity of self-reported drinking before injury compared with a physiological measure : Cross-national analysis of emergency-department data from 16 countries
- 2007
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Ingår i: Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. - 1937-1888. ; 68:2, s. 296-302
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objective: Self-reports of alcohol consumption among patients visiting an emergency department (ED) have been used extensively in the investigation of the relationship between drinking and injury. Little is known, however, about the associations between validity of self-reports with patient and injury characteristics and whether these relationships vary across regions or countries. Both of these issues are explored in this article. Method: In the construct of a multilevel logistical model, validity of self-reports was estimated as the probability of a positive self-report given a positive blood alcohol concentration (BAC). The setting included 44 EDs across 28 studies in 16 countries. Participants included 10,741 injury patients from the combined Emergency Room Collaborative Alcohol Analysis Project (ERCAAP) and the World Health Organization Collaborative Study of Alcohol and Injuries. Data were analyzed on self-reported drinking within 6 hours before injury compared with BAC results obtained from breath-analyzer readings in all but two studies, which used urine screens. Covariates included demographic, drinking, and injury characteristics and aggregate-level contextual variables. Results: At the individual level, a higher BAC measurement was associated with a higher probability of reporting drinking, as was heavy drinking and sustaining injuries in traffic accidents or violence-related events. At the study level, neither aggregate BAC nor other sociocultural variables affected the validity of self-reported drinking. Conclusions: This study provides further evidence of the validity of self-reported drinking measures in crossnational ED studies based on the objective criterion of BAC estimates.
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| 2. |
- Comasco, Erika, et al.
(författare)
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Adolescent alcohol consumption : Biomarkers PEth and FAEE in relation to interview and questionnaire data
- 2009
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Ingår i: Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. - : ALCOHOL RES DOCUMENTATION INC CENT ALCOHOL STUD RUTGERS UNIV. - 1937-1888 .- 1938-4114. ; 70:5, s. 797-804
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to investigate the congruence of biomarkers, questionnaires, and interviews as instruments to assess adolescent alcohol consumption. METHOD The methodology used was a cross-sectional study with a randomized sample. Four different methods were used to estimate high adolescent alcohol consumption. The concordance of the results was investigated. Surveys were performed, and biological specimens were collected at all schools in the county of Västmanland, Sweden, in 2001. Eighty-one boys and 119 girls from a population of 16- and 19-year-old adolescents were randomly selected from quartiles of volunteers representing various degrees of psychosocial risk behaviors. Using a questionnaire (for a 1-hour session) and in-depth interviews, subjects were assessed regarding their alcohol-use habits. Blood and hair samples were analyzed for phosphatidylethanol (PEth) and fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEEs), respectively. RESULTS High alcohol consumption was underreported in the questionnaire compared with the interviews. PEth and FAEE analyses weakly confirmed the self-reports, and the results of the two biochemical tests did not overlap. The PEth blood test was the most specific but the least sensitive, whereas the FAEE hair test revealed low specificity and an overrepresentation of positive results in girls. CONCLUSIONS The expected higher self-report of high alcohol consumption by interview rather than by questionnaire was confirmed partly because of the influence of a bogus pipeline procedure. The absence of overlap between PEth and FAEE results and their poor agreement with self-reports suggested that biomarkers are unsuitable as screening tools for alcohol consumption in adolescents.
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| 3. |
- Jones, A Wayne, 1945-, et al.
(författare)
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Driving under the influence of central stimulant amines : Age and gender differences in concentrations of amphetamine, methamphetamine, and ecstasy in blood
- 2008
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Ingår i: Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. - 1937-1888. ; 69:2, s. 202-208
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objective: A zero-tolerance law for driving under the influence of drugs (DUID) was introduced in Sweden in 1999. This change in legislation has led to a 12-fold increase in the number of blood samples sent by the police for toxicological analysis. Here we report the age and gender of offenders, along with the concentrations of amphetamine, methamphetamine, and ecstasy (3,4-methylenedioxymeth-amphetamine) in blood samples analyzed since the institution of the new legislation. Method: A forensic toxicology database (TOXBASE) was used to identify cases of DUID in which central stimulant amines were verified in blood during a 5-year period (2000-2004). Results: Amphetamine was present in 15,898 of 26,556 cases of DUID (60%) either alone or together with other licit or illicit drugs. In 6,094 cases, amphetamine was the only psychoactive substance in blood at mean (median) and highest concentrations of 1.01 mg/L (0.80 mg/L) and 11.9 mg/L, respectively. The users of amphetamine were mainly men (85% vs 15% women, p < .001), and men tended to be a few years older than the women, the mean (SD) age for men was 37 (9.2) years and for women it was 35 (8.1) years (p < .001). In 644 cases, amphetamine and methamphetamine were present in blood samples at mean (median) concentrations of 0.85 mg/L (0.60 mg/L) and 0.34 mg/L (0.20 mg/L), respectively (p < .001). The mean (median) and highest concentrations of ecstasy in 493 DUID offenders were 0.23 mg/L (0.10 mg/L) and 3.5 mg/L, respectively. The mean age of ecstasy users was 26 (7.2) years, which was about 10 years younger than those using amphetamine (p < .001). Conclusions: The high prevalence of amphetamines in blood of apprehended drivers in Sweden verifies widespread use of these stimulants as recreational drugs. The findings from this study suggest that a zero-tolerance DUID law has not deterred offenders, which suggests that more attention should be given to the underlying substance-abuse problem instead of conventional penalties such as monetary fines and/or imprisonment.
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