Epidemiology of New Psychoactive Substances in Relation to Traditional Drugs of Abuse in Clinical Oral Fluid Samples.
Basic & clinical pharmacology & toxicology February 1, 2025 Magnus A B Axelsson, Hanna Lövgren, Robert Kronstrand et al. 6 citations
New psychoactive substances (NPS) are a health hazard due to unpredictable toxicity and unknown prevalence. Analyzing 34,183 oral fluid samples from 9,468 psychiatric and addiction care patients in a Swedish region during 2019–2020, 58 different NPS were detected in 481 samples from 201 patients, totaling 618 findings. NPS use was more common in males and patients aged 25 or older. Ketamine use was associated with most NPS classes except cannabinoids; fentanyl, methadone, tapentadol, and clonazepam also correlated with multiple NPS classes. More traditional drugs of abuse correlated with sedative/hypnotic NPS, suggesting broader use. Mitragynine correlated negatively with other NPS but positively with opioid abstinence remedies buprenorphine, loperamide, and tapentadol, indicating its use for opioid withdrawal.