Adherence to buprenorphine maintenance treatment in opioid dependence syndrome: A case control study

Abstract

Background: Opioid Use disorders are emerging as a serious public health concern in India. Opioid substitution treatment is one of the emerging forms of treatment in this population which needs more evidence to increase its availability and address prejudices towards the same. Materials and Methods: This is a case control study with retrospective design reviewing the charts of patients with opioid dependence syndrome registered between January 2005 to December 2012. Adherence to treatment was the outcome variable assessed in this study. Results: The odds of the Buprenorphine Maintenance Treatment (BMT) group remaining in treatment is 4.5 (P < 0.005) times more than Naltrexone Maintenance Treatment (NMT) group and 7 times (P < 0.001) more than Psychosocial intervention (PST) alone group. Discussion: We believe that these study findings will help in reducing the prejudice towards BMT and encourage further research in this field. Conclusion: BMT has a better adherence rate than other treatments in opioid use disorders.

Keywords

• Buprenorphine maintenance treatment
• naltrexone maintenance treatment
• opioid substitution treatment
• opioid dependence syndrome