Outpatient methadone maintenance treatment program Quality of life and health of opioid-dependent persons in Lithuania

Abstract

Background. The evaluation of quality of life and self-perceived health represents an assessment of the impact of treatment on patient functioning and well-being. Objective. Our aim was to explore the impact of methadone maintenance treatment on quality of life and self-perceived health of opioid-dependent persons in Lithuania. Methods. A total of 102 opioid-dependent patients were recruited in the study. A prospective follow-up study design was used. To assess quality of life, the WHOQOL-BREF 26-item version was used. The impact of methadone maintenance treatment on self-perceived health was assessed by Opiate Treatment Index (OTI). Results. Following 6 months of methadone maintenance treatment, significant improvements in physical (P=0.004), psychological (P=0.004), and environmental (P=0.048) components of quality of life were observed; no statistically significant improvements were found in social component of quality of life. Study participants reported lower rates of medical morbidity associated with injection (P<0.001), cardiorespiratory (P=0.034), musculoskeletal (P<0.001), neurological (P=0.013), gastrointestinal (P<0.001), and general health (P<0.001). Conclusions. Methadone maintenance treatment substantially reduces morbidity associated with opioid dependence and improves the quality of life of patients.

Improvement of Quality of Life and Mental Health in Methadone Maintenance Therapy

“…In this study quality of life scores were shown to have improved in direct proportion to the MMT duration; nevertheless. Only the social subscale score was reported to be statistically significant, this was contrary to others findings, 16,29,30 which can probably best explained by the fallacy on the part of addicts' family hoping for MMT to be a magic bullet. Other plausible reason why MMT may fail at times possibly regards unemployment as a result of social alienation, discrimination and stigma against drug users.…”

Exploratory Study on Drug Users’ Perspectives on Quality of Life: More than Health-Related Quality of Life?

“…QoL is an overarching concept, which has often been applied in health care research (Padaiga et al 2007), particularly in the fields of disability studies and mental health care (Masthoff et al 2005;Schalock 2005). Nevertheless, there is controversy over the meaning of this concept, and there is no consensus about its definition (Carr and Higginson 2001;Fischer et al 2001a, b;Moons et al 2006;Taillefer et al 2003).…”

“…Isolation and social stigma may contribute to the fact that social inclusion is often difficult to achieve. Padaiga et al (2007) have demonstrated that stigmatization may have an influence on understandings of QoL. In the field of mental health care, stigma appears to have negative consequences for the QoL of clients and frequently results in discrimination (Rosenfield 1997).…”

“…Moreover, factors influencing QoL are dynamic and can change over time, including a shift of focus and priority (Allison et al 1997;Carr and Higginson 2001;Foster et al 2000). One of the biggest challenges in measuring QoL is trying to capture the uniqueness of this concept for each individual (Padaiga et al 2007), which means that it is not always desirable to start from an objective standard of QoL. Many standardized instruments start from professionals' definition of what they think is important for a good QoL and are not based on clients' or patients' own life experiences (Gilbert 2004).…”

Dosis de metadona y su relación con calidad de vida, satisfacción, psicopatología, rendimiento cognitivo y consumo adicional de sustancias no prescritas

“…El éxito del tratamiento depende de otros factores, tales como el empleo, las relaciones familiares, la disponibilidad de relaciones íntimas, la estructuración horaria de las actividades de la vida diaria y el cambio de hábitos relacionados con la salud, entre otros (De Maeyer, Vanderplasschen, Lammertyn et al, 2011;He et al, 2011). Estos programas parten de la consideración de que la respuesta al tratamiento es función de diferencias individuales y no una mera función farmacológica dosis-respuesta (Padaiga, Subata y Vanagas, 2007). Desde esta perspectiva, no cabe hablar de dosis altas o bajas, sino dosis ajustadas o adecuadas, que eliminen la necesidad (pero no la posibilidad) de que se produzcan consumos adicionales.…”