[Professional drivers and psychoactive substances consumption: results from medical surveillance at the workplace in Piedmont region].

BACKGROUND

The use of psychoactive substances has been shown to be a risk factor for accidents in professional drivers. According to an approved Italian law, in order to detect dependency at the workplace the occupational health physician is called to assess the use of illicit drugs among professional drivers. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the use of psychoactive substances among professional drivers.

METHODS

From July to December 2008, rapid urine screening test was carried out on 198 professional drivers. All positive results from the screening stage were verified by specialized laboratories.

RESULTS

We found 4 workers with a positive rapid urine screening test (7.1%), one of which was positive only for benzodiazepines and another positive test was not confirmed by specialized laboratory. By only considering illegal substances detected, 6.1% of the drivers tested positive. In this study, the high number of consumers among professional drivers ranged from 31 to 35 years old. Cannabis (THC) was the most frequently detected substance (seen in 10 over 12 cases,), after that was methadone (2/12 cases) and cocaine (1/12 case). We only had one case where more than one substance was found in the same subject (THC and cocaine). Five (41.7%) were former drug-addicts and public Pathological Addiction Services (Ser.T.) had previously followed them.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results highlight the problem of drug consumption among professional drivers in Piedmont region. Health education and medical surveillance in workplace drug-testing may improve worker and third parties safety.