SynthesisTrials2020
A call for consensus in defining efficacy in clinical trials for opioid addiction: combined results from a systematic review and qualitative study in patients receiving pharmacological assisted therapy for opioid use disorder.
Synthesis in Trials, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT05594121 (A Pragmatic, Multi-centre, Open-label, Randomized, 12-month, Parallel Group, Superiority Study to Compare the Effectiveness of Subcutaneous Buprenorphine Depot), which is not on this map. Cited by 27 papers, 6 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.
A Pragmatic, Multi-centre, Open-label, Randomized, 12-month, Parallel Group, Superiority Study to Compare the Effectiveness of Subcutaneous Buprenorphine Depot (Sublocade®) vs Daily Sublingual Buprenorphine With Naloxone (Suboxone®) for the Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder
Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 31 citations in OpenAlex.
- Substance Use Disorder Treatment Outcomes: Methodological Overview of Metrics and Criteria.International journal of methods in psychiatric research · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- The impact of relaxing restrictions on take-home doses during the COVID-19 pandemic on program effectiveness and client experiences in opioid agonist treatment: a mixed methods systematic review.Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy · 2023Pooled it
- Interim opioid agonist treatment for opioid addiction: a systematic review.Harm reduction journal · 2022Pooled it
- Effectiveness of medication for opioid use disorders in transition-age youth: A systematic review.Journal of substance abuse treatment · 2022Pooled it
- Role of microRNAs in the pathophysiology of addiction.Wiley interdisciplinary reviews. RNA · 2021Pooled it
- From access to sustainability: understanding telemedicine-based buprenorphine induction through a RE-AIM lens.Addiction science & clinical practice · 2026Trial
- Elevating Patient Voices to Improve Opioid Use Disorder Quality Measurement: A Survey Protocol.Substance use & addiction journal · 2026Article
- Pharmacological Management of Opioid Use Disorder: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis: Prise en charge pharmacologique du trouble de l'usage des opiacés : revue systématique et méta-analyse en réseau.Canadian journal of psychiatry. Revue canadienne de psychiatrie · 2026Review
- "I still can feel the sickness": Withdrawal experiences of people on methadone maintenance treatment.Journal of substance use and addiction treatment · 2025Article
- Article
- Empirically contrasting urine drug screening-based opioid use disorder treatment outcome definitions.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2024Article
- "It's Like A Partnership": Exploring the Primary Care Experiences and Patient-Defined Goals of People Who Use Drugs.Journal of general internal medicine · 2024Article
- A genome-wide association, polygenic risk score and sex study on opioid use disorder treatment outcomes.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Exploring the performance of during-treatment substance use outcome measures in predicting longer-term psychosocial functioning and post-treatment abstinence.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2023Article
- Clinical Trial Design Challenges and Opportunities for Emerging Treatments for Opioid Use Disorder: A Review.JAMA psychiatry · 2023Review
- Patient-centered quality measurement for opioid use disorder: Development of a taxonomy to address gaps in research and practice.Substance abuse · 2022Review
- Interleukin-1 receptor-associated kinase 4 (IRAK4) in the nucleus accumbens regulates opioid-seeking behavior in male rats.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2022Article
- Cannabis use and opioid relapse: An exploratory survival analysis of prospectively collected data.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
- The Inclusion of Patients' Reported Outcomes to Inform Treatment Effectiveness Measures in Opioid Use Disorder. A Systematic Review.Patient related outcome measures · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
16 authors at 9 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundGiven the complex nature of opioid addiction treatment and the rising number of available opioid substitution and antagonist therapies (OSAT), there is no 'gold standard' measure of treatment effectiveness, and each successive trial measures a different set of outcomes which reflect success in arbitrary or opportune terms. We sought to describe the variation in current outcomes employed across clinical trials for opioid addiction, as well as determine whether a discrepancy exists between the treatment targets that patients consider important and how treatment effectiveness is measured in the literature.
methodsWe searched nine commonly used databases (e.g., EMBASE, MEDLINE) from inception to August 1, 2015. Outcomes used across trials were extracted and categorized according to previously established domains. To evaluate patient-reported goals of treatment, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 adults undergoing methadone treatment.
resultsWe identified 60 trials eligible for inclusion. Once outcomes were categorized into eight broad domains (e.g., abstinence/substance abuse), we identified 21 specific outcomes with furthermore 53 subdomains and 118 measurements. Continued opioid use and treatment retention were the most commonly reported measures (46%, n = 28). The majority of patients agreed that abstinence from opioids was a primary goal in their treatment, although they also stressed goals under-reported in clinical trials.
conclusionsThere is inconsistency in the measures used to evaluate the effectiveness of OSATs. Individual and population level decision making is being guided by a standard of effect considered useful to researchers yet in direct conflict with what patients deem important.
trial registrationPROSPERO, CRD42013006507.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.