RT Journal Article
T1 Wastewater Based Epidemiology for the Surveillance of Illicit Drug and Substance of Abuse Use in Prison Settings: A Critical Review
A1 Egaña, Iker
A1 Nogales-García, Maite
A1 Akhrimenko, Vladimir
A1 González Gómez, Xiana
A1 Quintana Álvarez, José Benito
A1 Villanueva-Blasco, Víctor José
A1 Orive, Gorka
A1 Lertxundi, Unax
K1 Drugs of abuse
K1 Illicit drugs
K1 Prescription misuse
K1 Prison
K1 Wastewater analysis
K1 Wastewater surveillance
AB People held in prison suffer from drug use disorders, with important health and safety implications. In order to design strategies to reduce drug consumption and for the provision of services, reliable data is necessary. In this study, a review of published works that have applied wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) in prison settings was performed in order to evaluate its utility. The study also explored future options for WBE in correctional settings. A search of MEDLINE was conducted using the following PubMed query terms: (“Wastewater” OR “Sewage”) AND (“Prisons” OR “Health Care Correctionals”) AND (“Abuse, substance” OR “illicit drugs”) since 2005 (first report of WBE applied to illicit drug consumption) to February 26, 2025. Then, it was complemented by a Google Scholar citation analysis. We found 8 studies, half of which have been conducted in Australia. Cocaine, cannabis, methamphetamine, and methadone have been the most widely monitored substances (5 studies). Different studies have also monitored various new psychoactive substances (NPS). So far, estimated consumption in prison settings has generally been lower than in the community, with the exception of cannabis and cocaine in French prisons. WBE has proven to be a valuable complementary tool to inform drug consumption in prison settings, as it can offer objective data. However, the number of publications is still limited. Studies focusing on gabapentinoids, synthetic cannabinoids, or enantiomeric profiling should be considered in future research. Additionally, the use of WBE to monitor the effectiveness of interventions offers a great potential as well.
PB Wiley
YR 2025
FD 2025-04-07
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10347/41175
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10347/41175
LA eng
NO Egaña, I., Nogales-Garcia, M., Akhrimenko, V., Gónzalez-Gómez, X., Quintana, J.B., Villanueva-Blasco, V.J., Orive, G. and Lertxundi, U. (2025), Wastewater Based Epidemiology for the Surveillance of Illicit Drug and Substance of Abuse Use in Prison Settings: A Critical Review. WIREs Forensic Sci, 7: e70004. https://doi.org/10.1002/wfs2.70004
NO Instituto de Salud Carlos III. Next-Generation EU/PTR/EDRF (RD21/0009/0012, RD21/0009/0015, RD24/0003/0001, & RD24/0003/0020—RIAPAd Network)
NO Spanish Agencia Estatal de Investigación: MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033 (RED2022-134363-T & PID2020-117686RB-C32)
NO Fundación Vital
DS Minerva
RD 20 may 2026