A Survey of Drugs of Abuse Testing by Clinical Laboratories in the United Kingdom

Abstract

An external quality assessment survey of testing facilities in UK clinical laboratories for the detection of drugs of abuse was made with nine freeze-dried samples of urine containing representative drugs with their metabolites from the following seven classes; amphetamines and stimulants, barbiturates, cannabinoids, cocaine, minor tranquillisers, opiates and non-opiate narcotics. Reports were received from 120 laboratories. Thirty six per cent of laboratories reported on all seven drug classes and 71% on the five classes excluding cannabinoids and cocaine. A single drug screening technique was used by 32% of laboratories whilst 46% were able to perform tests by both immunological and chromatographic techniques. There was a mean level of false positive reporting of 4·3% and an observed level of false negative reports of 8·4%, the latter underestimating the true frequency. The minor tranquillisers, cocaine and benzoyl ecgonine were the most frequently missed analytes. Several false reports had important potential implications for patient care.