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194720

IN ROAD TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS, ARE THE PATTERN, SEVERITY, AND OUTCOME OF DRIVERS’ INJURIES AFFECTED BY MARIJUANA ABUSE?

Article

Last updated: 22 Jan 2023

Subjects

-

Tags

• Forensic Medicine

Abstract

Introduction: Road traffic accidents (RTAs) represent a leading contributor to the global disease burden. Drivers involved in some RTAs were found to be under the influence of different drugs. Marijuana effects on driving risks are not thoroughly understood. The study aimed to compare the pattern, severity, and clinical outcome of injuries between marijuana-smoking drivers and non-drugged drivers in RTAs. Patients and Methods: This prospective, comparative study was carried out on 78 drivers admitted to the emergency department, Tanta University Emergency Hospital during the period from the start of January to the end of December 2018. All drivers were subjected to history taking, clinical examination, assessment of injury severity score (ISS) and revised trauma score (RTS), and detection of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in urine. Results: Thirty-six drivers tested positive for THC with a median level of 314.6 ng/ml. There was a lack of significant association between marijuana smoking and the site of injuries. The marijuana-positive group had a significantly higher frequency of skull fractures, ruptured spleen, intraperitoneal hemorrhage, and abrasions on the body surface when compared to the marijuana-negative group. The median ISS was non-significantly higher, and the mortality was significantly higher in the marijuana-positive group. The THC level correlated significantly and strongly with both ISS and RTS. A significantly higher median THC level was detected in non-survivors compared to survivors. Conclusion: It could be concluded that Marijuana smoking is associated with an increased mortality rate in victims of RTAs. There are strong correlations between THC level and both ISS and RTS, suggesting a dose-dependent effect of marijuana smoking.

DOI

10.21608/ejfsat.2021.63222.1190

Keywords

Accidents, Marijuana, Smoking, Tetrahydrocannabinol, Score

Authors

First Name

Amira

Last Name

Wahdan

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Forensic Medicine and Clinical Toxicology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt.

Email

amira.wahdan@med.tanta.edu.eg

City

Tanta

Orcid

-

First Name

Amal

Last Name

Hafez

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Forensic Medicine and Clinical Toxicology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt

Email

amal.hafez@med.tanta.edu.eg

City

Tanta

Orcid

-

Volume

21

Article Issue

3

Related Issue

27484

Issue Date

2021-09-01

Receive Date

2021-02-22

Publish Date

2021-09-01

Page Start

91

Page End

106

Print ISSN

1687-0875

Online ISSN

2535-1915

Link

https://ejfsat.journals.ekb.eg/article_194720.html

Detail API

https://ejfsat.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=194720

Order

8

Type

Original Article

Type Code

429

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

The Egyptian Journal of Forensic Sciences and Applied Toxicology

Publication Link

https://ejfsat.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

-

Details

Type

Article

Created At

22 Jan 2023