RT Journal Article
T1 Recent trends in wastewater-based epidemiology of pharmaceuticals. Methods and applications
A1 Pernas Fraguela, Carlos
A1 Montes Goyanes, Rosa
A1 Rodil Rodríguez, María del Rosario
A1 Castro Bustelo, Verónica
A1 Quintana Álvarez, José Benito
A1 Estévez-Danta, Andrea
K1 Wastewater environmental surveillance (WES)
K1 Sewage
K1 Drug metabolism
K1 SARS-CoV-2
K1 Wastewater analysis
AB This review article discusses the latest research on wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) of pharmaceuticals since 2020. It covers the analytical methods that have been used to measure pharmaceuticals and their metabolites, mostly relying on off-line solid-phase extraction followed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Then, we focus on general considerations related to WBE, such as biomarkers stability or back-calculation of drug use by using correction factors. We found that over 130 drugs have been analyzed and their wastewater concentrations converted to pharmaceutical use estimations, of which those related with the nervous system (ATC level 1 code N) have been by far the most frequently investigated. Subsequently the review focusses on studies related to the spatio-temporal assessment of drug use, with a specific section devoted to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic. Then, it covers studies which contrast WBE estimations of drug use with pharmaceutical dispensing data and how they complement each other.
PB Elsevier
SN 0165-9936
YR 2026
FD 2026-02-13
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10347/46005
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10347/46005
LA eng
NO Pernas Fraguela, C., Montes Goyanes, R., Rodil Rodríguez, R., Castro Bustelo, V., Quintana Álvarez, J.B., & Estévez Danta, A. (2026). Recent trends in wastewater-based epidemiology of pharmaceuticals. Methods and applications. Trends in Analytical Chemistry, 198, 118746.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trac.2026.118746
NO Details on the CFs that have been applied are presented in the attached Table S1.
NO This work was funded by Instituto de Salud Carlos III/ERDF/FEDER (RD24/0003/0020, RIAPAd network), Spanish Agencia Estatal de Investigación MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 /ERDF/FEDER (PID2024-156804OB-C32) and Xunta de Galicia (ED431C 2025/21 and ED481B-2025/042). C. Pernas-Fraguela thanks the Spanish Ministerio de Educación, Formación Profesional y Deportes for his predoctoral contract (FPU23/01870).
DS Minerva
RD 4 may 2026