A meta-analysis study of worldwide prevalence of mortality in cocaine-consuming motorcyclists

Abstract

For this meta-analysis, the aim is to estimate the prevalence and to determine the factors associated with changes in this prevalence in the world. A systematic review of PubMed/Medline, ISI Web of Knowledge, Scopus, and Science Direct, SID, and Google Scholar from 2011 to April 2020 was performed. Point prevalence was analyzed with a 95% confidence interval. The variances of each study were calculated using a two-sentence distribution formula, and the heterogeneity between the studies was assessed by the Q-Cochran test with a significance level of less than 0.1. Also, the index of changes attributed to I² was examined. Due to the heterogeneity between the studies, the random-effects model was used to combine the results of the studies. All statistical analyses were performed by the STATA software version 11 using Meta-Analysis commands. The significance level of the tests was considered to be P < 0.05. The prevalence of mortality in motorcyclists in six studies was reported to be 12% (0.05-0.18 = 95% CI). We stratified this study by participant geographical region and age group. In this study, the highest prevalence of mortality was in the under-30 age group. Furthermore, planning educational campaigns and advertisements by state authorities that are pointing out the harmful effects of motorcyclists' cocaine and/or other substances consumption is necessary.

Keywords:

• Cocaine
• mortality
• motorcycles
• prevalence

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to all of those with whom we have had the pleasure to work in writing this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran, and was conducted under the Declaration of Helsinki (IR.KAUMS.NUHEPM.REC.1399.086).