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Heroin Addiction and Related Clinical Problems: 2024, 26, 66

Quality of life among opioid use disorder patients on opioid agonist therapy in Vojvodina

Masa Comic, Dragana Ratkovic, Vladimir Knezevic, Aleksandra Dickov, Svetlana Ivanovic-Kovacevic, Olga Ivetic, Dusan Kuljancic, and Ksenija Kolundzija

Digital Object Identifier:
https://doi.org/10.62401/2531-4122-2024-66

Summary: Background. Quality of life (QoL) is of additional importance in the treatment of substance use disorders because improvement in QoL can support treatment retention and abstinence after treatment completion. The objective of the research is to assess the QoL of individuals who are undergoing Opioid agonist therapy (OAT), as well as the differences in the QoL with different sociodemographic status and (OAT) in Vojvodina, Serbia. Methods. This study employs a descriptive and cross-sectional approach, using a sociodemographic questionnaire and WHOQOL-BRIEF to gather data from 224 individuals. Data analysis was conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics, including ANOVA, MANOVA, and t-test results. Additionally, post-hoc tests were performed to investigate the education and QoL of participants. Results. The participants’ majority was 71% male, with an average age of 39, 70% with secondary education, 55% were unemployed, and 79% were in urban places of residence. The overall rating of the QoL for the entire sample is approximately in the middle range (mean: 56.86, min-32, max-78, SD 9.706). A worse QoL was associated with older participants (p<.05; age and QoL, as well as health satisfaction), unemployed (p<.01 in life satisfaction and all four domains - physical, psychological, social, and environmental), with lower educational status (p<.01 in all four domains), with comorbidities (p<.01 in Q1, Q1 and DOM1; p<.05 in DOM4), and without a permanent partner (p<.01 in all four domains). Those on buprenorphine treatment are more satisfied with their health than others (p<.05). Conclusions. Key aspects that may compromise the QoL of individuals on OAT require further research to develop targeted interventions to improve the QoL of this population.

Keywords: Quality of life; Opioid use disorder; QoL; OUD; OST