Issue: Vojnosanit Pregl 2017; Vol. 74 (No. 5)

Quality of life of treated opiate addicts in the methadone maintenance program and those treated with buprenorphine

Authors:
Mirjana Marinković, Lidija Djordjević-Jovanović, Snežana Miljković, Bobana Milojković, Vladimir Janjić

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Background/Aim. Although the characteristics of the treat-ment are the most researched determinants of quality of life of opiate addicts, it is indisputable that there is a certain influence of the characteristics of addicts and addiction, too. The aim of this study was to determine which addicts characteristics, as well as the characteristics of the addiction and treatment have predica-tive influence on the quality of life of the opiate addicts treated in the methadone maintenance program and those treated with bu-prenorphine. Methods. The epidemiological cross-sectional study was carried out in 2013 at the Clinical Center Niš, on a to-tal of 64 opiate addicts, both sexes, aged 18 and older (32 addicts in the methadone program, chosen by random selection, and 32 addicts treated with buprenorphine, matched by sex and age). Necessary data were collected in a “face to face” interview with the examinees, based on the autonomous kind of a question-naire, together with the use of the standardized World Health Organization (WHO) instruments: for health status, for the level of severity of addiction and for the quality of life measuring) based on which the health index (EQ-5D), Addiction Severity Index (ASI) and the quality of life index (WHOQOL-BREF) were calculated. The data were described by the methods of de-scriptive statistics, while the differences between groups were an-alyzed by applying χ2 and t-test. Multiple regressions were used to determine the predictors. Results. The addicts in the metha-done program showed much worse perception of quality of life than those treated in another way, although, according to the values of quality of life, they did not differ significantly. The most numerous predictors of the level of quality of life were health characteristics, characteristics of the socioeconomic posi-tion of the examinees, as well as different consequences of addic-tion. The influence of treatment was less noticeable. Participating in the methadone program had predicative influence on perception and the level of quality of life of the addicts in mental area and that of the environment. The influence of the characteristics of metha-done treatment in physical and social area was insignificant. Conclusion. Variations in the perception and level of the quality of life of opiate addicts in different areas cannot be explained using only one predictor. The number of determining variables is large, and its impact complex.