New Psychoactive Substance Intoxications and Fatalities during the COVID-19 Epidemic

da | Feb 2, 2023 | Lavori scientifici | 0 commenti

In January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, declaring the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic in March 2020. Stringent measures decreased consumption of some drugs, moving the illicit market to alternative substances, such as New Psychoactive Substances (NPS).

A systematic literature search was performed, using scientific databases such as PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and institutional and government websites, to identify reported intoxications and fatalities from NPS during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The search terms were: COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, coronavirus disease 2019, intox*, fatal*, new psychoactive substance, novel psychoactive substance, smart drugs, new psychoactive substance, novel synthetic opioid, synthetic opioid, synthetic cathinone, bath salts, legal highs, nitazene, bath salt, legal high, synthetic cannabinoid, phenethylamine, phencyclidine, piperazine, novel benzodiazepine, benzodiazepine analogue, designer benzodiazepines, tryptamine and psychostimulant.

From January 2020 to March 2022, 215 NPS exposures were reported in Europe, UK, Japan and USA. Single NPS class intoxications accounted for 25, while mixed NPS class intoxications represented only 3 cases.

Alfredo Fabrizio Lo Faro 1, Diletta Berardinelli 1, Tommaso Cassano 2, Gregory Dendramis 3, Eva Montanari 1, Angelo Montana 1, Paolo Berretta 4, Simona Zaami 5, Francesco Paolo Busardò 1, Marilyn Ann Huestis 6
 

Affiliations

  • 1Department of Excellence Biomedical Sciences and Public Health, Marche Polytechnic University, 60121 Ancona, Italy.
  • 2Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Foggia, Via Luigi Pinto, c/o Policlinico “Riuniti” di Foggia, 71122 Foggia, Italy.
  • 3Department of Cardiology, ARNAS Ospedale Civico di Cristina Benfratelli, 90127 Palermo, Italy.
  • 4National Centre on Addiction and Doping, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, 00161 Rome, Italy.
  • 5Department of Anatomical, Histological, Forensic and Orthopedic Sciences, “Sapienza” University of Rome, 00161 Rome, Italy.
  • 6Institute of Emerging Health Professions, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA 19107, USA.

Maggiori informazioni sono disponibili sul sito fonte: PubMed