The Impact of Longitudinal Substance Use Patterns on the Risk of Opioid Agonist Therapy Discontinuation: A Repeated Measures Latent Class Analysis

Original research
by
Cui, Zishan et al

Release Date

2023

Geography

Canada

Language of Resource

English

Full Text Available

Yes

Open Access / OK to Reproduce

Yes

Peer Reviewed

Yes

Objective

Our study aimed to characterize longitudinal substance use patterns among people receiving OAT and evaluate the association between different substance use patterns and the risk of OAT discontinuation.

Findings/Key points

We found that compared to the primarily crack use class, the two opioid and stimulant use classes carried a higher risk of OAT discontinuation, while the primarily cannabis and crack use class had a lower OAT discontinuation risk. Our findings highlight the need for integrated treatment strategies to manage the co-use of opioids and stimulants during receipt of OAT and suggest future research should explore the potential of cannabis as a harm reduction strategy or adjunctive treatment to OAT.

Design/methods

Data were collected from two prospective cohorts between 2005 and 2020 in Vancouver, Canada.

Keywords

About PWUD
Illegal drugs
Stimulants
Substitution/OAT