Policies and Toxicological Screenings for No Drug Addiction: An Example from the Civil Aviation Workforce

Michele Treglia, Margherita Pallocci, Giorgio Ricciardi-Tenore, Flavio Baretti, Giovanna Bianco, Paola Castellani, Fabrizio Pizzuti, Valeria Ottaviano, Pierluigi Passalacqua, Claudio Leonardi, Luca Coppeta, Agostino Messineo and Roberta Tittarelli
Additional contact information
Michele Treglia: Section of Legal Medicine, Social Security and Forensic Toxicology, Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, 00133 Rome, Italy
Margherita Pallocci: Section of Legal Medicine, Social Security and Forensic Toxicology, Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, 00133 Rome, Italy
Giorgio Ricciardi-Tenore: Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, 00133 Rome, Italy
Flavio Baretti: Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, 00133 Rome, Italy
Giovanna Bianco: Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, 00133 Rome, Italy
Paola Castellani: Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, 00133 Rome, Italy
Fabrizio Pizzuti: Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, 00133 Rome, Italy
Valeria Ottaviano: Section of Legal Medicine, Social Security and Forensic Toxicology, Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, 00133 Rome, Italy
Pierluigi Passalacqua: Section of Legal Medicine, Social Security and Forensic Toxicology, Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, 00133 Rome, Italy
Claudio Leonardi: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services (Ser.D)—Local Health Authority (ASL) RM2, 00133 Rome, Italy
Luca Coppeta: Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, 00133 Rome, Italy
Agostino Messineo: Section of Legal Medicine, Social Security and Forensic Toxicology, Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, 00133 Rome, Italy
Roberta Tittarelli: Section of Legal Medicine, Social Security and Forensic Toxicology, Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, 00133 Rome, Italy

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 3, 1-11

Abstract: Introduction: Since 2008, Italian legislators, with the aim of ensuring public safety, have made it mandatory for an occupational doctor (OD) to assess specific categories of workers to exclude those who may have consumed drugs of abuse. Due to the relevance of work activities relating to the civil aviation and airport sector, a policy based on the use of training and information tools, as well as a health surveillance protocol, has been undertaken since 2009. Materials and methods: A total of 61,008 workers at a commercial airline underwent health surveillance between 2009 and 2019. Following ≤24 h notification, their urine was screened for opiates, cocaine, cannabinoids, amphetamines, methamphetamines, and methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) using an immunochemical test. Positive results were confirmed using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS) or Liquid Chromatography -Mass Spectrometry (LC/MS). In confirmed cases, the workers were declared unfit and sent to a specialized laboratory for a second level analysis. Results: Positive results, initially >1%, have halved in the last four years (<0.5%). The percentage of positive results was consistently very low among pilots and, moreover, the rare positive cases detected were due to a cross-reactivity phenomena. The highest and most discontinuous percentages seen occurred in the population undergoing a pre-employment examination. Regarding the types of substance used, a prevalence of cannabis (58.52%) and cocaine (35.2%) use was observed. Conclusions: The data presented indicate that the air transport sector, in all its components (ground workers and air crews), has a very limited number of substance abusers, and this number tends to decrease over time and with work seniority. Another aspect of particular interest, and which is more specific to toxicology, concerns the detection of cross-reactivity in urinary immunochemical screening between the antibodies to drugs of abuse and certain other drugs, such as anti-inflammatories or antibiotics; as well as foods, and other commonly used substances.

Keywords: substance-related disorders; substance abuse; toxicology; occupational health; occupational medicine; health policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/3/1501/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/3/1501/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:3:p:1501-:d:737141

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().