ReviewAddiction (Abingdon, England)2020
Global opioid agonist treatment: a review of clinical practices by country.
Review in Addiction (Abingdon, England), 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 42 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
42 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Oral and injectable opioid agonist treatments for people who use street opioids: a systematic literature review and network meta-analysis.BMC public health · 2025Pooled it
- Sustained-release naltrexone for opioid dependence.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2025Pooled 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
- From access to sustainability: understanding telemedicine-based buprenorphine induction through a RE-AIM lens.Addiction science & clinical practice · 2026Trial
- Patient-Reported Outcomes of Treatment of Opioid Dependence With Weekly and Monthly Subcutaneous Depot vs Daily Sublingual Buprenorphine: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2021Trial
- Patient Travel Experiences for Methadone Dosing Visits.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- Extended-release buprenorphine in adults with opioid use disorder involving poppy seed tea: An 18-month retrospective case series.The American journal on addictions · 2026Article
- Providers' perspectives on what heroin-assisted treatment ought to be: a qualitative study.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Envisioning a Humane and Accessible US Methadone Treatment System: Generating Policy and Practice Recommendations From the Liberate Methadone Movement.Substance use & addiction journal · 2026Article
- Treating addiction with an addictive drug: the ketamine paradox revisited.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Review
- Buvidal/Brixadi - a long-acting injectable buprenorphine formulation for the treatment of opioid dependence.Pain management · 2025Review
- Article
- Exploring the role of urine drug screening in opioid agonist therapy.The Medical journal of Australia · 2025Article
- Are Treatment Services Ready for the Use of Big Data Analytics and AI in Managing Opioid Use Disorder?Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Trajectories of medication for opioid use disorder and their impact on HIV testing among people who inject drugs in India: A longitudinal assessment of clinic-based data.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2025Article
- Drug treatment and support service utilization amidst the COVID-19 pandemic among people who inject drugs in Baltimore, Maryland: An interrupted time-series analysis, 2015-2022.The International journal on drug policy · 2025Article
- Article
- Outcome of Buprenorphine maintenance treatment among Indian females with opioid dependence: Report from a tertiary addiction treatment center.Indian journal of psychiatry · 2025Article
- Virtual Primary Care for People With Opioid Use Disorder: Scoping Review of Current Strategies, Benefits, and Challenges.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
Abstract
aimsWe assessed how opioid agonist treatment (OAT) for opioid use disorder (OUD), specifically methadone and buprenorphine, including buprenorphine-naloxone, is delivered in routine clinical practice, with a focus on factors that affect access to and delivery of these services. The aims of this review were to summarize eligibility criteria for entry to OAT, doses in routine clinical practice, access to and eligibility for unsupervised dosing and urine drug screening practices in OAT programs globally.
methodsWe completed searches of PubMed, Embase, and grey literature databases for cross-sectional or observational cohort studies of OAT using either methadone or buprenorphine. Dose data extracted from eligible studies were compared with guidelines provided by WHO.
resultsWe found 140 reports from 41 countries that contained data for at least one of the relevant indicators. A diagnosis of opioid dependence or opioid use disorder was the most common eligibility requirement for OAT (13 or 17 countries). Reported mean or median doses for methadone ranged from 16-131 mg whereas range for buprenorphine was 2.5-19 mg. Access to unsupervised dosing under some conditions was reported in 18 of 27 countries. Frequency of regular urine drug screenings (UDS) ranged from several times a week to eight times per year (methadone) or as clinically indicated.
conclusionsOpioid agonist treatment practices, including doses prescribed, vary greatly both within and across countries. Of particular concern is the persistence of lower dose prescribing practices, in which patients may be prescribed doses below those proven to yield significant clinical benefits.
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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.