Gender differences in driving under the influence of psychoactive drugs: Evidence mapping of real case studies and meta-analysis.


Journal

Forensic science international
ISSN: 1872-6283
Titre abrégé: Forensic Sci Int
Pays: Ireland
ID NLM: 7902034

Informations de publication

Date de publication:
Dec 2022
Historique:
received: 14 12 2021
revised: 27 09 2022
accepted: 01 10 2022
pubmed: 25 10 2022
medline: 30 11 2022
entrez: 24 10 2022
Statut: ppublish

Résumé

Very few studies have examined predictors of Driving Under the Influence (DUI) as a function of gender. This oversight is relevant, because analyzing gender differences prevents generalization of results observed in men, who still currently account for the majority of drivers worldwide, to women. The aim of this study is to analyze the prevalence of DUI of drugs in men and women reported in real case studies published in the last two decades, and to assess gender differences in risky DUI behaviour. PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science were searched for eligible studies in May 2021; a follow-up literature search was conducted in August 2021. Real-case studies of drivers convicted for DUI of psychoactive drugs with positive toxicological confirmatory analysis were included. The extracted outcome was the prevalence of positive findings of men and women for cocaine, cannabinoids, amphetamine-like drugs, opioids, and psychoactive prescription drugs. A meta-analysis of random effects estimates was performed to investigate the change in the size of the overall effect (by Cohen d standardized mean difference test). A Mann Whitney U test was performed to test for differences between genders. Of the 2877 studies screened, 439 were retrieved in full-text and 26 were included. The meta-analysis showed a significant higher prevalence among men for cocaine (1.8% vs 0.9%; p < 0.001), cannabinoids (3.5% vs 1.6%; p = <0.01) and amphetamine-like drugs (1.2% vs 0.6%; p < 0.01). Surprisingly, no differences were observed in the use of opioids (2.3% vs 2.2%; p = 0.45) and benzodiazepines/Z-drugs (2.9% vs 3.7%; p = 0.52). Contrary to the extraordinary number of real-case studies reported in literature, only a few papers differentiate the prevalence of DUI between men and women. This can lead to an underestimation of the influence of gender in DUI phenomenon or complicate the evaluation of the results for some classes of substances, as observed for medications and opioids. The primary goal in the future will be to collect the data concerning DUI drivers following shared and homogeneous methodologies, in order to allow the analysis of data disaggregated by gender, which can be used for monitoring evolving trends and developing gender-specific targeted prevention and enforcement efforts.

Sections du résumé

BACKGROUND BACKGROUND
Very few studies have examined predictors of Driving Under the Influence (DUI) as a function of gender. This oversight is relevant, because analyzing gender differences prevents generalization of results observed in men, who still currently account for the majority of drivers worldwide, to women. The aim of this study is to analyze the prevalence of DUI of drugs in men and women reported in real case studies published in the last two decades, and to assess gender differences in risky DUI behaviour.
METHODS METHODS
PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science were searched for eligible studies in May 2021; a follow-up literature search was conducted in August 2021. Real-case studies of drivers convicted for DUI of psychoactive drugs with positive toxicological confirmatory analysis were included. The extracted outcome was the prevalence of positive findings of men and women for cocaine, cannabinoids, amphetamine-like drugs, opioids, and psychoactive prescription drugs. A meta-analysis of random effects estimates was performed to investigate the change in the size of the overall effect (by Cohen d standardized mean difference test). A Mann Whitney U test was performed to test for differences between genders.
RESULTS RESULTS
Of the 2877 studies screened, 439 were retrieved in full-text and 26 were included. The meta-analysis showed a significant higher prevalence among men for cocaine (1.8% vs 0.9%; p < 0.001), cannabinoids (3.5% vs 1.6%; p = <0.01) and amphetamine-like drugs (1.2% vs 0.6%; p < 0.01). Surprisingly, no differences were observed in the use of opioids (2.3% vs 2.2%; p = 0.45) and benzodiazepines/Z-drugs (2.9% vs 3.7%; p = 0.52).
CONCLUSION CONCLUSIONS
Contrary to the extraordinary number of real-case studies reported in literature, only a few papers differentiate the prevalence of DUI between men and women. This can lead to an underestimation of the influence of gender in DUI phenomenon or complicate the evaluation of the results for some classes of substances, as observed for medications and opioids. The primary goal in the future will be to collect the data concerning DUI drivers following shared and homogeneous methodologies, in order to allow the analysis of data disaggregated by gender, which can be used for monitoring evolving trends and developing gender-specific targeted prevention and enforcement efforts.

Identifiants

pubmed: 36279739
pii: S0379-0738(22)00309-7
doi: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2022.111479
pii:
doi:

Substances chimiques

Psychotropic Drugs 0
Amphetamines 0
Cannabinoids 0
Cocaine I5Y540LHVR
Analgesics, Opioid 0

Types de publication

Meta-Analysis Journal Article Review

Langues

eng

Sous-ensembles de citation

IM

Pagination

111479

Informations de copyright

Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Conflict of interest The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Auteurs

Guido Pelletti (G)

Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, Unit of Legal Medicine, University of Bologna, Via Irnerio 49, 40126 Bologna, Italy. Electronic address: guido.pelletti2@unibo.it.

Rafael Boscolo-Berto (R)

Department of Neurosciences, Institute of Human Anatomy, University of Padova, Padova, Italy. Electronic address: rafael.boscoloberto@unipd.it.

Rossella Barone (R)

Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, Unit of Legal Medicine, University of Bologna, Via Irnerio 49, 40126 Bologna, Italy. Electronic address: rossella.barone3@unibo.it.

Arianna Giorgetti (A)

Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, Unit of Legal Medicine, University of Bologna, Via Irnerio 49, 40126 Bologna, Italy. Electronic address: arianna.giorgetti@unibo.it.

Clara Fiorentini (C)

Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, Unit of Legal Medicine, University of Bologna, Via Irnerio 49, 40126 Bologna, Italy. Electronic address: clara.fiorentini@studio.unibo.it.

Jennifer P Pascali (JP)

Department of Cardiac, Thoracic, Vascular Sciences and Public Health, University of Padova, via Falloppio 50, 35121 Padova, Italy. Electronic address: jennifer.pascali@unipd.it.

Paolo Fais (P)

Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, Unit of Legal Medicine, University of Bologna, Via Irnerio 49, 40126 Bologna, Italy. Electronic address: paolo.fais@unibo.it.

Susi Pelotti (S)

Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, Unit of Legal Medicine, University of Bologna, Via Irnerio 49, 40126 Bologna, Italy. Electronic address: susi.pelotti@unibo.it.

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Classifications MeSH