National Wastewater Reconnaissance of Analgesic Consumption in Australia

• DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.2c06691
• Publication Date: 2023-01-13T21:25:50Z
• Authors: Fahad Ahmed; Benjamin Tscharke; Jake W. O’Brien; Wayne D. Hall; Peter J. Cabot; P. Marcin Sowa; Saer Samanipour; Kevin V. Thomas
• Keywords: Consumption

A wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) method is presented to estimate analgesic consumption and assess the burden of treated pain in Australian communities. Wastewater influent samples from 60 communities, representing ∼52% Australia's population, were analyzed quantify concentration analgesics used treat converted estimates amount drug consumed per day 1000 inhabitants using pharmacokinetics WBE data. Consumption was standardized defined daily dose people. The population treatment classified as mild moderate (for non-opioid analgesics) strong severe opioid analgesics). mean capita weighted total DDD 0.029 DDD/day/person, that opioid-based 0.037 DDD/day/person across Australia. greater (mild or index) observed at regional remote sites. correlation analysis indices with different socioeconomic descriptors revealed affects populations high low groups. Australians spent an estimated US $3.5 (AU $5) on analgesics. Our findings suggest could be effective surveillance tool for estimating a scale assessing