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- Title
Six-Year Outcome of Opioid Maintenance Treatment in Heroin-Dependent Patients: Results from a Naturalistic Study in a Nationally Representative Sample.
- Authors
Soyka, Michael; Strehle, Jens; Rehm, Jürgen; Bühringer, Gerhard; Wittchen, Hans-Ulrich
- Abstract
<bold>Background: </bold>In many countries, the opioid agonists, buprenorphine and methadone, are licensed for maintenance treatment of opioid dependence. Many short-term studies have been performed, but little is known about long-term effects. Therefore, this study described over 6 years (1) mortality, retention and abstinence rates and (2) changes in concomitant drug use and somatic and mental health.<bold>Methods: </bold>A prevalence sample of n = 2,694 maintenance patients, recruited from a nationally representative sample of n = 223 substitution doctors, was evaluated in a 6-year prospective-longitudinal naturalistic study. At 72 months, n = 1,624 patients were assessed for outcome; 1,147 had full outcome data, 346 primary outcome data and 131 had died; 660 individuals were lost to follow-up.<bold>Results: </bold>The 6-year retention rate was 76.6%; the average mortality rate was 1.1%. During follow-up, 9.4% of patients became "abstinent" and 1.9% were referred for drug-free addiction treatment. Concomitant drug use decreased and somatic health status and social parameters improved.<bold>Conclusions: </bold>The study provides further evidence for the efficacy and safety of maintenance treatment with opioid agonists. In the long term, the number of opioid-free patients is low and most patients are more or less continuously under opioid maintenance therapy. Further implications are discussed.
- Subjects
OPIOID abuse; DRUG abuse; HEROIN abuse; METHADONE treatment programs; THERAPEUTIC use of narcotics; ANALGESICS; BUPRENORPHINE; LONGITUDINAL method; SUBSTANCE abuse; TREATMENT effectiveness; DISEASE prevalence
- Publication
European Addiction Research, 2017, Vol 23, Issue 2, p97
- ISSN
1022-6877
- Publication type
journal article
- DOI
10.1159/000468518