Authors
1
Departments of Forensic Medicine and Clinical Toxicology, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University , (New Damietta), Egypt
2
Department of Forensic Medicine and Clinical Toxicology , Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University , (New Damietta), Egypt
3
Department of Forensic Medicine and Clinical Toxicology, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University , (New Damietta)
4
Department of Neurosurgery, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University , (New Damietta)
Abstract
A motor vehicle accident is a major public health problem with increasing incidence of mortality and
morbidity. Psychoactive drugs, such as amphetamine, cocaine and medicinal drugs increase the risk of
road traffic injuries (RTIs). The present work studied the relationship between illicit and non-illicit psychoactive
drugs administration and head trauma in motor car accidents in Damietta governorate. The
study was conducted from the 1st of January 2008 to 1st of July 2009 and involved 80 cases recruited
from the Emergency Department of Al-Azhar University Hospital (New Damietta),in addition to 60 cases
as a control group among those admitted to the neurosurgery department with no history of RTIs within
the past 6 months. Within one hour after arrival to the emergency room,5ml urine and blood samples
were drawn in a sodium fluoride (NaF) contained tubes. Then they were kept at 4-8oC for subsequent
tests, using radioimmunoassay strips as a preliminary test and a thin layer chromatography (TLC) as a
confirmatory tests in the Clinical Toxicology Unit.. Cases and controls were subjected to a standardized
questionnaire. Major variables included in the interview were age, sex, smoking, driving behaviors, wearing
a protective gear and psychoactive drugs used during the previous month. In each case, all medications
administered prior to urine and blood sample collection were recorded. Drug abuse in the present
study, was positive in 52 cases (65.0%) of the studied group compared to 14 cases (23.3%) of the control
group; in the study group, opiates are the most commonly abused (45.0%) followed by psychoactive
drugs (37.5%), then cannabis (20.0%) and benzodiazepine (18.8%), while in the control group, opiates
and antihistamines are the most common (8.3% for each one) followed by cannabis and benzodiazepine
(5.0% for each one) and there is a significant difference in the use of cough suppressants, cannabis,
opiates, benzodiazepine, psychoactive drugs and drugs co-administration in the study group in comparison
to the control group. In conclusion, the present study revealed that illicit and non-illicit drug
abuse was associated with motor car accidents regardless the type of the victim (driver, occupant or
pedestrian), and the most common drugs used were opiates, psychoactive drugs, cannabis and benzodiazepine
)
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