Scheibe, AndrewShelly, ShaunGerardy, TaraVon Homeyer, ZaraSchneider, AndreaPadayachee, KalvanyaNaidoo, Shalon BalaguruMtshweni, KlaasMatau, AyandaHausler, HarryMarks, Monique2020-04-072020-04-072020-02-21Scheibe, 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. 1-11.1940-0632 (print)1940-0640 (online)10.1186/s13722-020-00186-7http://hdl.handle.net/2263/74076BACKGROUND : 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© The Author(s) 2020. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.Heroin useOpioid useOpioid agonist treatmentMethadone maintenance therapyHealth sciences articles SDG-03SDG-03: Good health and well-beingArticle