Observational studyThe lancet. HIV2015
Effect of low-threshold methadone maintenance therapy for people who inject drugs on HIV incidence in Vancouver, BC, Canada: an observational cohort study.
Observational study in The lancet. HIV, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 32 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
32 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 51 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- "It could bring a lot of help to people that aren't getting help right now": A qualitative analysis of the impact of virtual care on access to primary care for people with opioid use disorder.PLOS digital health · 2026Article
- Virtual Primary Care for People With Opioid Use Disorder: Scoping Review of Current Strategies, Benefits, and Challenges.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Article
- "It was horrible for that community, but not for the way we had imagined": A qualitative study of family physicians' experiences of caring for communities experiencing marginalisation during COVID-19.SSM. Qualitative research in health · 2022Article
- Modeling the cost-effectiveness and impact on fatal overdose and initiation of buprenorphine-naloxone treatment at syringe service programs.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2022Article
- Advancing virtual primary care for people with opioid use disorder (VPC OUD): a mixed-methods study protocol.BMJ open · 2022Article
- Intersecting substance use treatment and harm reduction services: exploring the characteristics and service needs of a community-based sample of people who use drugs.Harm reduction journal · 2022Article
- Importance of Opioid Agonist Therapy to Reduce Injection-Related Infections.Open forum infectious diseases · 2022Article
- Integrating Harm Reduction into Outpatient Opioid Use Disorder Treatment Settings : Harm Reduction in Outpatient Addiction Treatment.Journal of general internal medicine · 2021Review
- Cannabis use is associated with reduced risk of exposure to fentanyl among people on opioid agonist therapy during a community-wide overdose crisis.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2021Article
- Methadone maintenance treatment is swapping one drug for another, and that's why it works: Towards a treatment-based critique of the war on drugs.The International journal on drug policy · 2020Article
- Concurrent Hepatitis C and B Virus and Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infections Are Associated With Higher Mortality Risk Illustrating the Impact of Syndemics on Health Outcomes.Open forum infectious diseases · 2020Article
- Tackling the overdose crisis: The role of safe supply.The International journal on drug policy · 2020Article
- Understanding concurrent stimulant use among people on methadone: A qualitative study.Drug and alcohol review · 2020Article
- Employment Cessation, Long Term Labour Market Engagement and HIV Infection Risk Among People Who Inject Drugs in an Urban Canadian Setting.AIDS and behavior · 2019Article
- Willingness to take buprenorphine/naloxone among people who use opioids in Vancouver, Canada.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2019Article
- Effectiveness of a Psycho-Social Intervention Aimed at Reducing Attrition at Methadone Maintenance Treatment Clinics: A Propensity Score Matching Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2019Article
- Dispensation of antiretroviral therapy and methadone maintenance therapy at the same facility in a low-barrier setting linked to optimal adherence to HIV treatment.HIV medicine · 2019Observational
- The Effects of Opioids on HIV Neuropathogenesis.Frontiers in immunology · 2019Review
- Eligibility for heroin-assisted treatment (HAT) among people who inject opioids and are living with HIV in a Canadian setting.Addiction science & clinical practice · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundHIV infection in people who inject drugs (PWID) is an international public health concern. We aimed to assess the effect of methadone maintenance therapy on HIV incidence in PWID in Vancouver, BC, Canada, where methadone is widely available through family physicians' offices and dispensed by community pharmacies.
methodsData were derived from the Vancouver Injection Drug Users Study (VIDUS), a prospective cohort of PWID in Vancouver. Individuals were eligible to enrol in VIDUS if they had injected illicit drugs at least once in the previous month and lived in the Greater Vancouver region. Participants responded to an interviewer-administered questionnaire and provided blood samples at enrolment and follow-up visits every 6 months. We estimated time to HIV seroconversion with Kaplan-Meier methods and used Cox proportional hazards methods to assess associations between methadone use and time to seroconversion.
findings1639 HIV-negative individuals were recruited between May 1, 1996, and May 31, 2013. Of these individuals, 138 had HIV seroconversion during a median of 75·5 months (IQR 33·4-115·3) of follow-up. In multivariate Cox regression analyses, methadone maintenance therapy remained independently associated with a reduced hazard of HIV infection after adjustment for sociodemographic characteristics and drug use patterns (adjusted relative hazard 0·64, 95% CI 0·41-0·98).
interpretationMethadone maintenance therapy for PWID made available through primary care physicians and community pharmacies can help to achieve public health goals such as reducing the spread of HIV.
fundingUS National Institutes of Health, Canada Research Chair, Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.