TY - JOUR

T1 - Spatial and temporal trends in alcohol consumption in Belgian cities

T2 - A wastewater-based approach

AU - Boogaerts, Tim

AU - Covaci, Adrian

AU - Kinyua, Juliet

AU - Neels, Hugo

AU - Van Nuijs, Alexander L.N.

N1 - Funding Information: This study and the PhD fellowship of Juliet Kinyua had financial support from the EU International Training Network SEWPROF (Marie Curie- Grant number 317205). Dr. Alexander van Nuijs acknowledges the Research Foundation—Flanders (FWO) for his post-doctoral fellowship. The authors are grateful to Jean-François Mougel, Alain Vandelannoote and the staff of the WWTPs of Aquafin for support in sampling. Publisher Copyright: © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

PY - 2016/3/1

Y1 - 2016/3/1

N2 - Background: In recent years, scientific evidence has emerged that wastewater-based epidemiology can deliver complementary information concerning the use of different substances of abuse. In this study, the potential of wastewater-based epidemiology in monitoring spatial and temporal trends in alcohol consumption in different populations in Belgium has been examined. Methods: Concentrations of ethyl sulphate, a minor Phase-II metabolite of ethanol, in 163 influent wastewater samples from eight wastewater treatment plants in Belgium in the period 2013-2015 were measured with liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry and used to estimate alcohol consumption. Results: The highest levels of alcohol consumption were detected in the metropoles Antwerp and Brussels compared to smaller villages. Annual variations were detected, with a higher alcohol consumption measured in 2013 compared with 2014. The weekly pattern showed a clear week and weekend difference in alcohol use, with intermediate levels on Monday and Friday. The results were extrapolated and a use of 5.6 L pure alcohol per year per inhabitant aged 15+ has been estimated in Belgium. The comparison with available information on drinking habits of the Belgian population further demonstrated the usefulness of the wastewater-based epidemiology approach. Conclusions: This is the largest wastewater-based epidemiology study monitoring alcohol consumption to date, demonstrating that objective and quick information on spatio-temporal trends in alcohol consumption on a local and (inter)national scale can be obtained.

AB - Background: In recent years, scientific evidence has emerged that wastewater-based epidemiology can deliver complementary information concerning the use of different substances of abuse. In this study, the potential of wastewater-based epidemiology in monitoring spatial and temporal trends in alcohol consumption in different populations in Belgium has been examined. Methods: Concentrations of ethyl sulphate, a minor Phase-II metabolite of ethanol, in 163 influent wastewater samples from eight wastewater treatment plants in Belgium in the period 2013-2015 were measured with liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry and used to estimate alcohol consumption. Results: The highest levels of alcohol consumption were detected in the metropoles Antwerp and Brussels compared to smaller villages. Annual variations were detected, with a higher alcohol consumption measured in 2013 compared with 2014. The weekly pattern showed a clear week and weekend difference in alcohol use, with intermediate levels on Monday and Friday. The results were extrapolated and a use of 5.6 L pure alcohol per year per inhabitant aged 15+ has been estimated in Belgium. The comparison with available information on drinking habits of the Belgian population further demonstrated the usefulness of the wastewater-based epidemiology approach. Conclusions: This is the largest wastewater-based epidemiology study monitoring alcohol consumption to date, demonstrating that objective and quick information on spatio-temporal trends in alcohol consumption on a local and (inter)national scale can be obtained.

KW - Alcohol consumption

KW - Ethyl sulphate

KW - Influent wastewater

KW - Sewage-based epidemiology

KW - Spatio-temporal trends

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84960089391&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2016.01.002

DO - 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2016.01.002

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 26804900

AN - SCOPUS:84960089391

VL - 160

SP - 170

EP - 176

JO - Drug and Alcohol Dependence

JF - Drug and Alcohol Dependence

SN - 0376-8716

ER -