Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35072314›Full record

ArticleAddiction (Abingdon, England)2022

Real-world effectiveness of pharmacological treatments of opioid use disorder in a national cohort.

Milja Heikkinen, Heidi Taipale, Antti Tanskanen, Ellenor Mittendorfer-Rutz, Markku Lähteenvuo, Jari Tiihonen

Open access · hybridAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Addiction (Abingdon, England), 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed
2.2field-weighted citation impact, top 14% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed, 13 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
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  3. Health-related quality of life measures as predictors for recurrent hospitalization and mortality among patients in heroin-assisted treatment.Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2025
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.

Milja HeikkinenDepartment of Forensic Psychiatry, University of Eastern Finland, Niuvanniemi Hospital, Kuopio, Finland.ORCID 0000-0002-4041-0333
Heidi TaipaleDepartment of Forensic Psychiatry, University of Eastern Finland, Niuvanniemi Hospital, Kuopio, Finland.
Antti TanskanenDepartment of Forensic Psychiatry, University of Eastern Finland, Niuvanniemi Hospital, Kuopio, Finland.
Ellenor Mittendorfer-RutzDepartment of Clinical Neuroscience, Division of Insurance Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Markku LähteenvuoDepartment of Forensic Psychiatry, University of Eastern Finland, Niuvanniemi Hospital, Kuopio, Finland.
Jari TiihonenDepartment of Forensic Psychiatry, University of Eastern Finland, Niuvanniemi Hospital, Kuopio, Finland.
University of Eastern Finland · FIKarolinska Institutet · SEUniversity of Helsinki · FI

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

aimTo investigate the real-world effectiveness of pharmacological treatments (buprenorphine, methadone) of opioid use disorder (OUD).

designA nation-wide, register-based cohort study.

settingSweden.

participantsAll residents aged 16-64 years living in Sweden using OUD medication from July 2005 to December 2016 (n = 5757, 71.8% men) were identified from registers of prescriptions, inpatient and specialized outpatient care, causes of death, sickness absence and disability pensions. MEASUREMENTS: Main outcome: hospitalization due to OUD. SECONDARY OUTCOMES: hospitalization due to any cause; death due to all, natural and external causes. Mortality was analyzed with between-individual multivariate-adjusted Cox hazards regression model. Recurrent outcomes, such as hospitalizations, were analyzed with within-individual analyses to eliminate selection bias. OUD medication use versus non-use was modelled with PRE2DUP (from prescription drug purchases to drug use periods) method.

findingsBuprenorphine [hazard ratio (HR) = 0.73, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.54-0.97] and methadone (HR = 0.74, 95% CI = 0.59-0.93) use were associated with significantly lower risk of OUD hospitalization, but not any-cause hospitalizations, compared with the time-periods when the same individual did not use OUD medication. The use of buprenorphine and methadone were both associated with significantly lower risk of all-cause mortality (HR = 0.45, 95% CI = 0.34-0.59; HR = 0.51, 95% CI = 0.41-0.63, respectively), compared with non-use of both medications. Similar results were found for risk of mortality due to external causes (HR = 0.39; 95% CI = 0.27-0.54; HR = 0.40; 95% CI = 0.29-0.53, respectively), but not for mortality due to natural causes. The risk of OUD hospitalization and all-cause mortality was decreased in all duration categories of studied medications (< 30, 31-180, 181-365 and >365 days), except for methadone use less than 30 days.

conclusionsThe use of buprenorphine and methadone are both associated with a significantly lower risk of hospitalization due to opioid use disorder and death due to all and external causes, when compared with non-use.

Indexed as

BuprenorphineOpioid-Related DisordersAnalgesics, OpioidCohort StudiesFemaleHumansMaleMethadoneOpiate Substitution TreatmentAnalgesics, OpioidBuprenorphineMethadoneBuprenorphineeffectivenesshospitalizationmethadonemortalityopioid use disorder

Identifiers

PMID35072314
PMCPMC9305765
OpenAlexW4206937056

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.