Nuove strategie analitiche per la prevenzione degli incidenti stradali alcol correlati nei conducenti di autobus

Road accidents and accidents at work are among the most important causes of death or disability in Western Countries. In Europe alcohol has been linked to 25% of road deaths, killing about 10.000 people a year. In Italy, according to data collected by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, more than 30% of fatal or serious traffic accidents are caused by the consumption of alcoholic beverages. Although the correlation between acute alcohol intoxication and driving disability is well known since ‘70s, to the best of our knowledge, there are no studies on the correlation between chronic alcohol abuse and risk of work accidents under the influence of alcohol. The main objectives of the study were: • to implement novel analytical strategies to be applied in the specific field of workplace safety assessment; • to study the prevalence of chronic alcohol abuse in a population of bus drivers; The experimental work was a part of a 5 years longitudinal study involving the bus drivers of the Verona Public Transportation Company (ATV). In the frame of workplace safety assessment, these subjects underwent once/year medical examination and blood sampling for the determination of CDT and γGT. The determination of γGT was performed by using an immunometric method (Beckman Coulter), while CDT analysis was carried out by a validated HPLC method. In addition a CZE-UV method for CDT determination in finger prick Dried Blood Spot was developed (fpDBS). CDT value was expressed as a percentage ratio of the sum of CDT correlated glycoforms (asialo and disialo-tf) on the total transferrin. The CDT cut-off value to distinguish between “normal subjects” and “alcohol abusers” was fixed at 1,90%. The normal γGT values are within 50 U/L for males and 38 U/L for females. In the year 2014-2016, 1827 subjects were examined: 501 in 2014, 629 in 2015 and 697 in 2016. 1314 (71%) out of them underwent the blood collection by venipuncture, the remaining part underwent the blood collection by fpDBS. Every year, about 2% of the subjects showed CDT values above the cut-off (1.90%) suggesting a condition of chronic alcohol abuse. In addition, about 15% of the subjects showed γGT values above the cut-off (females: 38 U/L; males: 50 U/L). The γGT data looked more difficult to be interpreted in comparison to CDT data since γGT increases also for pathological conditions different from alcohol abuse.