Survey on drugs-of-abuse testing in the European Union

Journal of Analytical Toxicology
R BadiaR de la Torre

Abstract

A survey on the quality of drugs-of-abuse testing in European laboratories was performed in 1993 (Part I) and 1994 (Part II). A total of 195 laboratories participated in Part I and 228 in Part II. There were 154 repeater laboratories. In each part of the survey, six urine samples were sent for analysis under routine conditions. A set of reference materials, including deuterated drug-standard solutions, was provided in Part II of the survey for optimization of analytical procedures. Screening for groups of substances was mainly performed by immunological techniques. Rates of false-positive (FP) results were 0 and 0.5%, respectively, in Parts I and II, and rates of false-negative (FN) results were 7.7% in Part I and 3.4% in Part II. Identification and quantitation of specific substances was mainly carried out by chromatographic methods, particularly gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. Application of chromatographic methods showed a lack of sensitivity (14.9% and 16.7% FN in Parts I and II, respectively) and a lack of specificity (0.8% FP in Part I versus 1.1% in Part II). Repeater laboratories improved their results (17.4% FN in Part I versus 14.2% Part II). The improvement of repeater laboratories emphasizes the nee...Continue Reading

Citations

Oct 3, 2003·Journal of Chromatography. B, Analytical Technologies in the Biomedical and Life Sciences·R VenturaR De la Torre
Apr 10, 2002·Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine : CCLM·Mario CassaniAlessandro Marocchi
Dec 4, 2004·Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine : CCLM·Steve George
Feb 14, 2006·Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry : RCM·C JiménezR Ventura
Sep 4, 1999·Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics·R F Robinson, M C Nahata
Jun 29, 1999·Analytical Chemistry·T A BrettellR Saferstein

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