Health Related Quality of Life in Individuals Transferred from a Needle Exchange Program and Starting Opioid Agonist Treatment
Joint Authors
Brådvik, Louise
Hakansson, Anders
Troberg, Katja
Bråbäck, Martin
Isendahl, Pernilla
Nilsson, Suzan
Source
Issue
Vol. 2018, Issue 2018 (31 Dec. 2018), pp.1-7, 7 p.
Publisher
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Publication Date
2018-12-19
Country of Publication
Egypt
No. of Pages
7
Main Subjects
Abstract EN
Background.
Opioid agonist treatment (OAT), for the treatment of heroin dependence, has been reported to improve overall health and lower mortality.
Drug use and retention in treatment have often been used as measures of treatment success.
More recently, however, researchers have suggested that measurements of quality of life should be an outcome in substance use treatment evaluations.
In a recent randomized controlled trial we demonstrated high rates of successful rapid referral from a needle exchange program (NEP) to OAT.
The aim of this study was to see whether an improvement in health related quality of life (HRQoL) could be seen at 3-month follow-up after starting OAT and whether it was associated with any baseline characteristics.
We also wanted to compare our sample to a sample from the general population with regard to HRQoL.
Methods.
This was a 3-month follow-up of 71 patients who started OAT.
Measurements of HRQoL with EQ-5D (an instrument developed by the EuroQol group) were made at baseline and at three months.
Results.
Mean EQ-5D VAS (visual analogue scale) for the study sample at baseline was 47.3, which was lower than a Swedish reference population reporting 83.3.
Individuals reporting being prescribed a drug for a psychiatric condition had significantly lower EQ-5D index values.
Improvement in EQ-5D index score was significantly less for individuals reporting previous overdoses (-0.10, p=0.025).
Individuals reporting previous suicide attempts had significantly lower EQ-5D VAS score at baseline.
A significant increase of the EQ-5D VAS difference over time was found with a mean difference of 10.94 (p=0.008) for the total sample.
Conclusion.
To our knowledge this is the first time HRQoL as an outcome is reported in a population transferred from a NEP to OAT.
Our results indicate that OAT can result in increased HRQoL, even with this type of rapid low-threshold referral.
American Psychological Association (APA)
Bråbäck, Martin& Brådvik, Louise& Troberg, Katja& Isendahl, Pernilla& Nilsson, Suzan& Hakansson, Anders. 2018. Health Related Quality of Life in Individuals Transferred from a Needle Exchange Program and Starting Opioid Agonist Treatment. Journal of Addiction،Vol. 2018, no. 2018, pp.1-7.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-1175903
Modern Language Association (MLA)
Bråbäck, Martin…[et al.]. Health Related Quality of Life in Individuals Transferred from a Needle Exchange Program and Starting Opioid Agonist Treatment. Journal of Addiction No. 2018 (2018), pp.1-7.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-1175903
American Medical Association (AMA)
Bråbäck, Martin& Brådvik, Louise& Troberg, Katja& Isendahl, Pernilla& Nilsson, Suzan& Hakansson, Anders. Health Related Quality of Life in Individuals Transferred from a Needle Exchange Program and Starting Opioid Agonist Treatment. Journal of Addiction. 2018. Vol. 2018, no. 2018, pp.1-7.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-1175903
Data Type
Journal Articles
Language
English
Notes
Includes bibliographical references
Record ID
BIM-1175903