Continuous opioid substitution treatment over five years: Heroin use trajectories and outcomes

Oral methadone or buprenorphine are the first-line medical therapies for opioid use disorder (OUD). These opioid substitution treatments (OST) are consistently associated with abstinence from illicit opioid use (e.g., Hubbard et al., 2003; Gossop et al., 2003; Teesson et al., 2006), a lowered risk of opioid overdose (White et al., 2015), and reductions in criminal behaviour (Gossop et al., 2005). Aggregate statistical results may, however, mask differential clinical response among sub-populations.

Source: Drug and Alcohol Dependence - May 10, 2018 Category: Addiction Authors: Brian Eastwood, John Strang, John Marsden Tags: Full length article Source Type: research