Mastroianni Nicola, Lopez de Alda Miren, Barcelo Damia
Water and Soil Quality Research Group, Department of Environmental Chemistry, Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA-CSIC) , C/Jordi Girona, 18-26, 08034 Barcelona, Spain.
Water and Soil Quality Research Group, Department of Environmental Chemistry, Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA-CSIC) , C/Jordi Girona, 18-26, 08034 Barcelona, Spain.
J Chromatogr A. 2014 Sep 19;1360:93-9. doi: 10.1016/j.chroma.2014.07.051. Epub 2014 Jul 25.
The increasing, generalized consumption of alcohol, especially among young people, generates great concern in our society due to its negative consequences on public health and safety. Besides the traditional, official methods employed for estimation of alcohol consumption, the monitoring of ethyl sulfate (EtS), a urinary biomarker of alcohol ingestion, in raw wastewater has been recently proposed as an additional tool to estimate alcohol use at community level through the so-called sewage epidemiology approach. In the presented study, a fast and reliable analytical method based on ion-pair liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) has been optimized and further applied to the analysis of EtS in seven 24h composite samples collected along one week at the inlet of a large sewage treatment plant (STP) located in the Barcelona area. EtS was measured in the entire set of analysed samples, with concentrations ranging from 5.5 to 33μg/L, which correspond to an absolute alcohol consumption of around 11,000 (Wednesday) to 25,000 (Sunday) kg/day. The average per capita absolute alcohol consumption calculated was 18mL/day/inhabitant. Moreover, the levels of EtS measured throughout the week showed high correlation with those of some recreational illicit drugs and metabolites, namely, cocaethylene (r(2)=0.9391, n=5), benzoylecgonine (r(2)=0.9252, n=7), ecstasy (r(2)=0.8950, n=7), amphetamine (r(2)=0.8707, n=7) and cocaine (r(2)=0.6425, n=7), measured in the same samples. This study confirms that the analysis of EtS in raw wastewater can be a useful tool for the estimation of alcohol consumption in an anonymous, fast and economic way, and indicates that consumption of alcohol and some illicit drugs occurs often together.
酒精消费的日益增长且呈普遍化态势，尤其是在年轻人当中，因其对公众健康与安全产生的负面影响，引发了我们社会的高度关注。除了用于估算酒精消费量的传统官方方法外，近期有人提议通过所谓的污水流行病学方法，监测原废水中的硫酸乙酯（EtS），这是一种酒精摄入的尿液生物标志物，以此作为在社区层面估算酒精使用量的额外工具。在本研究中，一种基于离子对液相色谱 - 串联质谱法（LC - MS/MS）的快速可靠分析方法得到了优化，并进一步应用于分析巴塞罗那地区一家大型污水处理厂（STP）进水口一周内采集的七个24小时混合样本中的EtS。在所分析的全部样本中均检测到了EtS，其浓度范围为5.5至33μg/L，这相当于每日绝对酒精消费量约为11,000（周三）至25,000（周日）千克。计算得出的人均每日绝对酒精消费量为18mL/天/居民。此外，整周测量的EtS水平与在同一样本中测量的一些娱乐性非法药物及其代谢物的水平高度相关，即：可口乙酮（r(2)=0.9391，n = 5）、苯甲酰芽子碱（r(2)=0.9252，n = 7）、摇头丸（r(2)=0.8950，n = 7）、苯丙胺（r(2)=0.8707，n = 7）和可卡因（r(2)=0.6425，n = 7）。本研究证实，分析原废水中的EtS可成为一种以匿名、快速且经济的方式估算酒精消费量的有用工具，并表明酒精和一些非法药物的消费常常同时发生。
