Perkons Ingus, Tomsone Laura Elina, Sukajeva Veronika, Neilands Romans, Kokina Kristina, Pugajeva Iveta
Institute of Food Safety, Animal Health and Environment "BIOR", Lejupes Street 3, Riga LV-1076, Latvia.
Riga Technical University, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Department of Water, Engineering and Technology, Kipsalas Street 6B, Riga LV-1048, Latvia.
J Environ Chem Eng. 2022 Aug;10(4):108110. doi: 10.1016/j.jece.2022.108110. Epub 2022 Jun 18.
The COVID-19 pandemic has become an unprecedented public health emergency causing immense societal and socio-economic consequences. Multiple studies have outlined that interventions to curb the spread of the virus are likely to have an effect on substance use patterns. In this study, we explored the presence of psychoactive pharmaceuticals, illicit drugs and related human metabolites in 24-h composite wastewater samples that were collected weekly in 2021 from the central WWTP of Riga, Latvia. The analysis was performed via suspect screening approach using three separate high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) workflows, which relied on reversed-phase liquid chromatography (RPLC), hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) and direct infusion HRMS. In total, 39 out of 149 substances were detected throughout the sampling period. These include pharmaceuticals (mainly antiepileptics, antidepressants and antipsychotics), illicit drugs (e.g., MDMA, MDEA, cocaine, etc.) and new psychoactive substances (alpha-PVP). The results were evaluated in relation to COVID-19 incidence rate and the severity of containment and closure policies. For some compounds we observed temporal changes that may be potentially linked to the state of the pandemic. For instance, higher detection rates were observed for several illicit drugs during periods, when restrictions on public events were relaxed. Meanwhile, some psychoactive pharmaceuticals and drugs used to treat upper respiratory tract infections displayed increased prevalence in weeks when the national COVID-19 incidence rates were higher. However, without baseline reference data from previous years, it is difficult to discern how much of the relationships seen are linked to pandemic progression and seasonal variability.
新冠疫情已成为一场前所未有的公共卫生突发事件，造成了巨大的社会和社会经济后果。多项研究表明，遏制病毒传播的干预措施可能会对药物使用模式产生影响。在本研究中，我们对2021年每周从拉脱维亚里加市中心污水处理厂采集的24小时混合废水样本中的精神活性药物、非法药物及相关人体代谢物进行了检测。分析采用可疑物筛查方法，使用三种独立的高分辨率质谱（HRMS）工作流程，分别基于反相液相色谱（RPLC）、亲水作用液相色谱（HILIC）和直接进样HRMS。在整个采样期间，共检测出149种物质中的39种。这些物质包括药物（主要是抗癫痫药、抗抑郁药和抗精神病药）、非法药物（如摇头丸、甲二氧甲基苯丙胺、可卡因等）和新型精神活性物质（α-吡咯戊酮）。研究结果结合新冠发病率以及防控和封锁政策的严格程度进行了评估。对于某些化合物，我们观察到了可能与疫情状况存在潜在关联的时间变化。例如，在公共活动限制放松期间，几种非法药物的检出率较高。与此同时，在全国新冠发病率较高的几周内，一些精神活性药物和用于治疗上呼吸道感染的药物的流行率有所上升。然而，由于缺乏前几年的基线参考数据，很难确定所观察到的这些关系中有多少与疫情进展和季节变化有关。
