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People Who Used Illicit Drugs Had Higher Rates of Road Traffic Accidents: a Population-Based Study in Taiwan, 2007–2016

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Abstract

Road traffic under the influence of drugs is an important issue of public health and social safety. We aimed to investigate the temporal trends of road traffic accidents (RTAs) involving people who used illicit drugs. A population-based retrospective study was conducted using data from the Taiwan Illicit Drug Issue Database (TIDID) and traffic accident data. We divided road users involved in RTAs during 2007–2016 into people who used nonillicit drugs and people who used illicit drugs and then calculated the rates of RTAs and fatalities. Age, sex, and driving under the influence of alcohol were considered. Poisson regression models were applied to assess possible significant trends over time for these rates. The analyses showed that people who used illicit drugs had higher rates of overall RTAs and drunk driving than people who used nonillicit drugs. While the fatalities of people who used nonillicit drugs decreased significantly (p < 0.0001) from 2007 to 2016, this trend was not observed in people who used illicit drugs (p = 0.380). Males had greater RTA rates and fatalities than females. Elderly people (60 years or older) were overrepresented among the fatalities in both people who used nonillicit drugs and people who used illicit drugs (23.68 and 122.05 age-spec. rates × 100 K population, respectively), while those 17 years or younger were overrepresented among RTAs involving people who used illicit drugs (99.76 age-spec. rates × 1 K population). Drunk driving by people who used illicit drugs was more frequent. Our results demonstrate the traffic safety issues are created by people who use illicit drugs, especially by males on both sides of the age spectrum and substantiate the influence of alcohol and drugs in RTAs.

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Data availability

Due to constraints on the data sharing permissions of the data in Health and Welfare Data Science Center (HWDC) in Taiwan, we are not allowed to share the data for public use.

Abbreviations

HWDC:

Health and Welfare Data Science Center

MOHW:

Ministry of Health and Welfare

RTA:

Road traffic accident

TIDID:

Taiwan Illicit Drug Issue Database

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Department of Mental and Oral Health (DMOH), Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taipei, Taiwan, for their administrative support. Parts of this material are based on data and information compiled and provided by DMOH. However, the analyses, conclusions, opinions, and statements expressed herein are those of the authors and not necessarily those of DMOH.

Funding

This study was supported in part by Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST 104–3011-F-039–001), Ministry of Health and Welfare (M05B4352), National Health Research Institutes (NP-108-GP-05), Ministry of Health and Welfare Clinical Trial Center (MOHW109-TDU-B-212–114004), China Medical University Hospital, and China Medical University under the Higher Education Sprout Project of the Ministry of Education, Taiwan. The funders had no role in study design, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. PhD Program for Aging, College of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan

    Chieh-Liang Huang & Cheng-Chieh Lin

  2. School of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan

    Chieh-Liang Huang & Cheng-Chieh Lin

  3. Tsaotun Psychiatric Center, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Nan-Tou County, Taiwan

    Chieh-Liang Huang

  4. Center for Drug Abuse and Addiction, China Medical University Hospital, No. 2, Yude Road, Taichung, 40447, Taiwan

    I-Ju Tsai, Wen-Chi Lin & Cynthia Wei-Sheng Lee

  5. Management Office for Health Data, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan

    I-Ju Tsai

  6. Department of Public Health, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan

    Ruey-Yun Wang

  7. Department of Traffic Science, Central Police University, No.56, Shuren Rd., Guishan Dist., Taoyuan, 333322, Taiwan

    Jones Pi-Chang Chuang

  8. Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan

    Cynthia Wei-Sheng Lee

  9. Department of Family Medicine, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan

    Cheng-Chieh Lin

  10. Department of Health Care Administration, College of Health Science, Asia University, Taichung, Taiwan

    Cheng-Chieh Lin

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  1. Chieh-Liang Huang
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Jones Pi-Chang Chuang or Cynthia Wei-Sheng Lee.

Ethics declarations

Ethics Approval and Consent to Participate

The Ethics Review Board of National Health Research Institutes in Taiwan approved this study (EC1060510-E-R1). Because of the anonymous property of the TIDID, the informed consent could not be obtained from the participants.

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Not applicable.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Huang, CL., Tsai, IJ., Lin, WC. et al. People Who Used Illicit Drugs Had Higher Rates of Road Traffic Accidents: a Population-Based Study in Taiwan, 2007–2016. Int J Ment Health Addiction 21, 2666–2681 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-021-00745-2

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