Six‑month retention and changes in quality of life and substance use from a low‑threshold methadone maintenance therapy programme in Durban, South Africa

dc.contributor.authorScheibe, Andrew
dc.contributor.authorShelly, Shaun
dc.contributor.authorGerardy, Tara
dc.contributor.authorVon Homeyer, Zara
dc.contributor.authorSchneider, Andrea
dc.contributor.authorPadayachee, Kalvanya
dc.contributor.authorNaidoo, Shalon Balaguru
dc.contributor.authorMtshweni, Klaas
dc.contributor.authorMatau, Ayanda
dc.contributor.authorHausler, Harry
dc.contributor.authorMarks, Monique
dc.date.accessioned2020-04-07T12:04:16Z
dc.date.available2020-04-07T12:04:16Z
dc.date.issued2020-02-21
dc.description.abstractBACKGROUND : Emerging data points to a potential heroin use epidemic in South Africa. Despite this, access to methadone maintenance therapy and other evidence-based treatment options remains negligible. We aimed to assess retention, changes in substance use and quality of life after 6 months on methadone maintenance therapy provided through a low-threshold service in Durban, South Africa. METHODS : We enrolled a cohort of 54 people with an opioid use disorder into the study. We reviewed and described baseline socio-demographic characteristics. Baseline and 6-month substance use was assessed using the World Health Organization’s Alcohol Smoking and Substance Use Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST) and quality of life, using the SF-12. We compared changes at 6 months on methadone to baseline using the Wilcoxon signed rank test and paired-tests for the ASSIST and SF-12 scores, respectively. McNemar’s test was used for comparisons between paired results of categorical variables relating to injecting frequency. RESULTS : The majority of the participants were young, Black African males, with a history of drug use spanning over 10 years. Retention after 6 months was 81%. After 6 months, the median heroin ASSIST score decreased from 37 to 9 (p < 0.0001) and the cannabis ASSIST score increased from 12.5 to 21 (p = 0.0003). The median mental health composite score of the SF-12 increased from 41.4 to 48.7 (p = 0.0254). CONCLUSIONS : Interim findings suggest high retention, significant reductions in heroin use and improvements in mental health among participants retained on methadone maintenance therapy for 6 months. Further research into longer term outcomes and the reasons contributing to these changes would strengthen recommendations for the scale-up of methadone maintenance therapy in South Africa.en_ZA
dc.description.departmentFamily Medicineen_ZA
dc.description.librarianam2020en_ZA
dc.description.sponsorshipThe National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences, Open Society Foundation, Mainline through the Bridging the Gaps project.en_ZA
dc.description.urihttps://ascpjournal.biomedcentral.comen_ZA
dc.identifier.citationScheibe, A., Shelly, S., Gerardy, T. et al. 2020, 'Six‑month retention and changes in quality of life and substance use from a low‑threshold methadone maintenance therapy programme in Durban, South Africa', Addiction Science and Clinical Practice, vol. 15, art. 13, pp. 1-11.en_ZA
dc.identifier.issn1940-0632 (print)
dc.identifier.issn1940-0640 (online)
dc.identifier.other10.1186/s13722-020-00186-7
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/74076
dc.language.isoenen_ZA
dc.publisherBioMed Centralen_ZA
dc.rights© The Author(s) 2020. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.en_ZA
dc.subjectHeroin useen_ZA
dc.subjectOpioid useen_ZA
dc.subjectOpioid agonist treatmenten_ZA
dc.subjectMethadone maintenance therapyen_ZA
dc.subject.otherHealth sciences articles SDG-03
dc.subject.otherSDG-03: Good health and well-being
dc.titleSix‑month retention and changes in quality of life and substance use from a low‑threshold methadone maintenance therapy programme in Durban, South Africaen_ZA
dc.typeArticleen_ZA

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