ArticleDrug and alcohol dependence2017
Racial and ethnic differences in opioid agonist treatment for opioid use disorder in a U.S. national sample.
Article in Drug and alcohol dependence, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 58 papers, 4 of them syntheses 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
58 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Barriers and facilitators to initiating and adhering to harm reduction services among people who inject drugs in the United States: a systematic review.Harm reduction journal · 2026Pooled it
- Outpatient follow-up and use of medications for opioid use disorder after residential treatment among Medicaid enrollees in 10 states.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2022Pooled it
- Interventions for hospitalized medical and surgical patients with opioid use disorder: A systematic review.Substance abuse · 2022Pooled it
- An Evaluation of Opioid Use in Black Communities: A Rapid Review of the Literature.Harvard review of psychiatryPooled it
- Attributes of higher- and lower-performing hospitals in the Consult for Addiction Treatment and Care in Hospitals (CATCH) program implementation: A multiple-case study.Journal of substance use and addiction treatment · 2025Trial
- Differential associations between social determinants of health and the initiation of medications for opioid use disorder across care settings.npj health systems · 2026Article
- "They Never, Never, Never Give Up on Me": Perspectives on an Addiction Consult Service From Hospitalized People Who Use Opioids at 6 New York City Public Hospitals.Substance use & addiction journal · 2026Article
- "With this you're not chained down to something": contrasting experiences of opioid agonist treatment and safer supply program participation among people receiving prescribed safer supply.Harm reduction journal · 2026Article
- Comprehensive drug policies increase trust in local government: an analysis of authorities' and residents' perspectives in rural US Appalachian and Midwestern counties.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- Protocol for a randomized controlled trial of patient-portal-based screening for substance use among people with HIV.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- First-hand accounts of structural stigma toward people who use opioids on Reddit.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2024Article
- Application of an opioid use disorder cascade of care in a large public health system.The American journal of drug and alcohol abuse · 2024Article
- Receipt and duration of buprenorphine treatment during pregnancy and postpartum periods in a national privately-insured cohort.Drug and alcohol dependence reports · 2023Article
- Buprenorphine use and setting type among reproductive-aged women self-reporting nonmedical prescription opioid use.Journal of substance use and addiction treatment · 2023Article
- Racial and Ethnic Inequities in Buprenorphine and Methadone Utilization Among Reproductive-Age Women with Opioid Use Disorder: an Analysis of Multi-state Medicaid Claims in the USA.Journal of general internal medicine · 2023Article
- Application of an Opioid Use Disorder Cascade of Care in a Large Public Health System.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2023Article
- Typology of laws restricting access to methadone treatment in the United States: A latent class analysis.The International journal on drug policy · 2023Article
- State Policy and the Breadth of Buprenorphine-Prescriber Networks in Medicaid Managed Care.Medical care research and review : MCRR · 2023Article
- Technical violations and infractions are drivers of disengagement from methadone treatment among people with opioid use disorder discharged from Connecticut jails 2014-2018.Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy · 2023Article
- The association between medication for opioid use disorder and employment outcomes in the U.S.: The relevance of race and ethnicity.Drug and alcohol dependence reports · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundOpioid Agonist Treatment (OAT) is the standard of care for the treatment of opioid use disorders. However, most people in treatment do not receive OAT. This study evaluated whether there are racial and/or ethnic differences in OAT receipt among adults entering specialty treatment for opioid use disorders in publicly-funded treatment programs across the U.S.
methodsUsing data from the national Treatment: Episode Data Base, odds of OAT receipt were compared among black, Hispanic and white clients. Mediation analyses were used to explore whether any racial/ethnic differences in OAT receipt were explained by variation in clinical need or by other treatment, sociodemographic, or geographic characteristics. Interaction terms were used to assess whether this association was modified by primary opioid type.
resultsOnly 28.7% of clients received OAT. Odds of OAT receipt were significantly higher odds among blacks (OR: 2.27(2.14-2.41)) and Hispanics (OR: 1.98(1.88-2.09)), compared to whites. Differences in clinical need accounted for a substantial portion of this difference (76.79% and 49.74%, respectively). Differences persisted after accounting for other potential explanatory variables (adjusted OR: 1.37 (1.24-1.52); 1.21(1.11-1.32)), but were only evident for primary heroin users (adjusted OR: 1.50 (1.34-1.69); 1.29 (1.17-1.42)) and not other opioid users.
conclusionsOAT receipt in treatment programs is low overall and particularly lacking among white heroin users. Differences in OAT receipt cannot be fully explained by differences in clinical need. More research is needed to understand and address barriers that underpin these differences so more patients with opioid use disorder can access evidenced-based treatment.
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