March 24, 2021. - A cross-sectional study, sponsored by PAHO and the IADB, in which patients 18 years and older admitted within six hours of suffering a road traffic injury (RTI) to emergency services in Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic (n = 501) and in Lima, Peru (n = 431) were interviewed. Case-crossover analysis, based on self-reported use prior to the RTI, was used to analyze RTI risk from alcohol, cannabis, and co-use.
Overall, 17.8% of patients were positive for alcohol based on the breathalyzer, and 11.2% were over 0.08 mg%. The legal level of blood alcohol concentration (BAC) in both countries is 0.05. Of the sample, 12.3% tested positive for at least one drug, with patients in the Dominican Republic almost twice as likely to be positive (17.9%) than those in Peru (9.6%) (p < 0.001). Cannabis was the most frequently detected drug (11.8%), and those in the Dominican Republic were significantly more likely to be positive (15.7%) compared with those in Peru (6.6%) (p < 0.001). The legal level of cannabis in both countries is zero. Drivers using alcohol only were over twice as likely to have an RTI (OR = 2.46, p < 0.001), and nearly seven times more likely if using both alcohol and cannabis (OR = 6.89, p < 0.01), but risk was not elevated for cannabis use alone. Risk of RTI for drivers in these two samples was significantly elevated from alcohol use, and more so for co-use with cannabis.
Differences between the two countries underscore the need for more comparable studies on alcohol in combination with cannabis throughout the Region to better understand the dimension and relevance of other substance use and RTI risk. These findings call for more stringent enforcement of drink driving countermeasures and increased awareness about the risks associated with other drug use and driving.
To access the article, click here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33790955/