ArticleHarm reduction journal2015
Participation dynamics of a cohort of drug users in a low-threshold methadone treatment programme.
Article in Harm reduction journal, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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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.
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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.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 13 citations in OpenAlex.
- Applications of network analysis to routinely collected health care data: a systematic review.Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA · 2018Pooled it
- Article
- Review of social networks of professionals in healthcare settings-where are we and what else is needed?Globalization and health · 2021Review
- 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 & clinical practice · 2020Article
- Article
- Methadone maintenance-lessons from two systems in China.Harm reduction journal · 2017Article
- Opioid tolerance in methadone maintenance treatment: comparison of methadone and levomethadone in long-term treatment.Harm reduction journal · 2016Article
- Harm reduction in Asia and the Pacific: an evolving public health response.Harm reduction journal · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe low-threshold methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) programme in Hong Kong has been in place for about 40 years. Assessment of the participation pattern of methadone users may inform future programme development to achieve effective harm reduction.
methodsLongitudinal clinical data of methadone users who first registered for MMT in the year 2008 in Hong Kong were retrieved after ethical and institutional approval. Participation pattern of this cohort was evaluated by examining users' frequency of attendance and then the overall retention rate. A subgroup of consistent users who remained on treatment in 2012 and/or 2013 was analysed. Comparison was made between high- and low-frequency users, and among high/moderate and low consistency users, to test their correlations with socio-demographics and social connectivity.
resultsThe cohort of methadone users registering in the year 2008 was composed of 351 persons, 77 % of whom were ethnic Chinese, with a median age of 34 and the duration of heroin dependency of 6 years. The participation pattern of methadone users was highly variable, with a 6-year retention rate of 38 %. Discontinuations or 'breaks' of >28 days had occurred in 212 (60 %) methadone users. About one third (n = 117) were high-frequency users who had attended more than twice a week for at least 90 % of their treatment periods. The dosages received by high-frequency users were generally higher. Of those continuing on treatment in the fifth and/or sixth year (n = 185), 30 (16 %), 29 (16 %) and 126 (68 %) gave a high, moderate and low level of consistency as defined by the lengths of breaks. High/moderate consistency users had a longer history of heroin use and a higher degree of connectivity with other users by social network analysis.
conclusionsDespite the variability of frequency and consistency of attendance of drug users enrolling in the low-threshold MMT programme in Hong Kong, a consistent pattern could be seen in the proportional distribution of dosage and participation efforts. Whereas an adequate dosage was a potential predictor of optimal frequency of attendance, demographics and connectivity had varied between continued users with different levels of consistency.
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