A new study from Great Britain indicates that giving opiate substitution treatment to addicts can mean a more than 85 percent chance of lowering the mortality rate in the group. The researchers discovered that how long people received opiate substitution treatment had a significant influence on its success, as well as the likelihood of death. It is well known that people who abuse opiates have a higher risk of dying.
Methadone and buprenorphine is the most common opiate substitution treatment. Over the past ten years, prescriptions for opiates has more than doubled. The number of deaths connected to methadone treatment has dropped, however, though it is troubling that the number of opiate deaths has not dropped in England and Wales over the same ten year period.
Earlier research had indicated there may be a higher risk of death in the first month of opiate substitution treatment, as well as in the first few weeks after someone completes the treatment.
For the study, information from the General Practice Research Database was used. This database has anonymous medical records of patients in general practices throughout Great Britain. The researchers looked at information from 5,577 patients with substance abuse and received 267,003 opiate substitutions between the period of 1990 and 2005. The patients were followed up until the expiration of their last opiate substitution, or the date of death before this time had passed.
A total of 178 patients died either on opiate substitution treatment or within a year of their last opiate prescription. The death rate of people off treatment was found to be double of people undergoing treatment for opiate addiction.