HARCP Archives

Browse by article

Browse by volume

Heroin Addiction and Related Clinical Problems: 2008, 10, 4 (pages: 19 - 28)

Predictors for Non-Relapsing Status in Methadone-Maintained Heroin Addicts. A Long-Term Perspective Study

Maremmani I., Pacini M., Lamanna F., Pani P. P., Trogu M., Perugi G., Deltito J., Gerra G.

Summary: Despite the established effectiveness of Methadone Maintenance Therapy (MMT), specific evidence regarding factors influencing the prognosis of enrolled patients is quite limited. This study aims to ascertain which patient- or treatment-related features, assessed in a standardized way at the beginning of the program, do have an influence on whom is retained for long-term compliance with retention in treatment. 129 patients (94 male and 35 female) were treated in a methadone maintenance treatment program for 6 years on average. Retention in treatment was compared (survival analysis and Leu-Desu statistics) among groups of patients selected on the basis of socio-demographic and clinical variables. The variables that showed statistically significant differences (p<0.05) for an association regarding retention rate were included in separate logistic backward regression analyses comprising outcomes as dependent variables. Results show that dual diagnosis, defined by concurrent psychiatric disorders in evidence before the onset of heroin use, is the strongest negative predictor of relapse throughout a six year's average observation period, regardless of other clinical and socio demographic variables. Such a finding should be read in the context of a high-threshold setting, and accounts only for those patients, who had been retained in treatment over the first year