PMID- 36931526 OWN - NLM STAT- MEDLINE DCOM- 20230508 LR - 20230605 IS - 1879-1026 (Electronic) IS - 0048-9697 (Print) IS - 0048-9697 (Linking) VI - 877 DP - 2023 Jun 15 TI - Long-term wastewater-based surveillance and impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on drug use trends in a U.S. Northeast rural town. PG - 162806 LID - S0048-9697(23)01422-5 [pii] LID - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162806 [doi] AB - Herein we discuss the findings of a two-year wastewater-based drug use surveillance from September 2018 to August 2020 and present objective evidence on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on drug use in a rural community. 24-h composite wastewater samples were collected twice each month from a university town in Northeastern United States and were analyzed for ten priority opioids and stimulants: morphine, codeine, hydrocodone, methadone, fentanyl cocaine, methamphetamine, amphetamine, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), and 3,4-methylenedioxy-N-ethylamphetamine (MDEA). All target drugs were detected at 100 % frequency in wastewater samples. On a mass basis, the average estimated per capita drug consumption were highest for cocaine, morphine, and amphetamine, and lowest for MDMA, MDEA, and hydrocodone. Furthermore, the estimated per capita consumption of fentanyl was higher than previous reports from rural and university settings in the U.S. Generally, drug consumption was higher during the spring semesters, with year-on-year semester increases also noted over the 2-y study period. Except for methadone and cocaine, the estimated average per capita consumption of drugs increased over the pandemic period, with the highest increase noted for MDMA (286 % increase compared to baseline, p = 0.016). Estimated average consumption of methadone and cocaine decreased slightly by 6 % and 7 %, respectively. These results demonstrate the utility and strength of wastewater-based approaches in capturing long-term and evolving trends in drug use within communities. Our study findings reflect the regionwide problem with opioid-related overdoses and increasing stimulant prescription rates. Our findings also provide objective data and insights for health policymakers on the effects of the pandemic period on community drug use in a rural U.S. town. CI - Copyright (c) 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. FAU - Luo, Jiayue AU - Luo J AD - Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering and Geography Science, Ningbo University, Zhejiang Province, China. FAU - Bello, Dhimiter AU - Bello D AD - Department of Biomedical and Nutritional Sciences, University of Massachusetts Lowell, MA 01854, USA. FAU - Pagsuyoin, Sheree AU - Pagsuyoin S AD - Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell, MA 01854, USA. Electronic address: Sheree_Pagsuyoin@uml.edu. LA - eng PT - Journal Article DEP - 20230315 PL - Netherlands TA - Sci Total Environ JT - The Science of the total environment JID - 0330500 RN - KE1SEN21RM (N-Methyl-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine) RN - ML1I4KK67B (3,4-methylenedioxyethamphetamine) RN - 6YKS4Y3WQ7 (Hydrocodone) RN - 0 (Wastewater) RN - 0 (Water Pollutants, Chemical) RN - CK833KGX7E (Amphetamine) RN - I5Y540LHVR (Cocaine) RN - UC6VBE7V1Z (Methadone) RN - UF599785JZ (Fentanyl) SB - IM MH - Humans MH - *N-Methyl-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine MH - Wastewater-Based Epidemiological Monitoring MH - Pandemics MH - Hydrocodone MH - Wastewater MH - Rural Population MH - *Water Pollutants, Chemical/analysis MH - *COVID-19/epidemiology MH - *Substance-Related Disorders/epidemiology MH - Amphetamine MH - *Cocaine/analysis MH - Methadone MH - Fentanyl MH - Substance Abuse Detection/methods PMC - PMC10015086 OTO - NOTNLM OT - COVID-19 pandemic OT - Drugs of abuse OT - Rural town OT - School-age population OT - Wastewater-based epidemiology COIS- Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Sheree Pagsuyoin reports financial support was provided by National Science Foundation. EDAT- 2023/03/18 06:00 MHDA- 2023/05/08 10:17 PMCR- 2023/03/15 CRDT- 2023/03/17 20:32 PHST- 2022/12/06 00:00 [received] PHST- 2023/03/07 00:00 [revised] PHST- 2023/03/07 00:00 [accepted] PHST- 2023/05/08 10:17 [medline] PHST- 2023/03/18 06:00 [pubmed] PHST- 2023/03/17 20:32 [entrez] PHST- 2023/03/15 00:00 [pmc-release] AID - S0048-9697(23)01422-5 [pii] AID - 162806 [pii] AID - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162806 [doi] PST - ppublish SO - Sci Total Environ. 2023 Jun 15;877:162806. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162806. Epub 2023 Mar 15.