SynthesisFrontiers in psychiatry2022
The effects of naltrexone on retention in treatment and being opioid-free in opioid-dependent people: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Frontiers in psychiatry, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 5 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
11 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 14 citations in OpenAlex.
- Approved Medications for Substance Use Disorders: An Umbrella Review of Systematic Reviews and Completed Phase 3 Randomized Controlled Trials.CNS drugs · 2026Pooled it
- Factors associated with the percentage of individuals who initiate and discontinue naltrexone as a relapse prevention pharmacotherapy in opioid use disorder: A systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2026Pooled it
- Efficacy of N, N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) psychedelic therapy for substance misuse: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2026Pooled it
- Evidence-based consensus guidelines for the pharmacological management of substance dependence: Recommendations from the British Association for Psychopharmacology.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2026Guideline
- The use of naltrexone in the treatment of chronic pain: a systematic review.Pain management · 2024Pooled it
- A Novel Role of Dexmedetomidine in the Modulation of Morphine Reward Memory via γ-Aminobutyric Acid Transporter-1.Anesthesiology · 2026Article
- Novel Synthetic Opioids (NSOs) and Their Evolving Crisis: Utilising NPSPharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Alternating self-administration sessions of cocaine and heroin impact drug-related motivation and vocalisations in rats.Psychopharmacology · 2025Article
- Treating Opioid Use Disorder and Opioid Withdrawal in the Context of Fentanyl.Annual review of clinical psychology · 2025Review
- Pharmacist administration of long-acting injectable medications for substance use disorders: A scoping review.The mental health clinician · 2025Review
- Design and Characterization of Chitosan-Based Smart Injectable Hydrogel for Improved Sustained Release of Antinarcotics.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Opioid dependency is a chronic relapsing disorder for which different therapeutically interventions have been developed. Naltrexone is a non-selective opioid antagonist that can be utilized for maintenance therapy in opioid dependency. In this systematic review, we aimed to evaluate the effects of naltrexone on retention in treatment and being opioid-free. Methods: We systematically searched PubMed and EMBASE databases up to February 5, 2022, using the following keywords: "Naltrexone," "Substance abuse," "Drug abuse," "Opiate-related disorder," and "Opioid dependence." Studies that included opiate-dependent individuals who were treated with naltrexone and assessed retention in treatment or being opioid-free were included. Two authors independently used the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool for quality assessment. A random effect model in Comprehensive Meta-Analysis software was used for the conduction of the meta-analysis. We performed subgroup analysis to evaluate the effects of naltrexone types on outcomes. Results: Eighteen studies, including 2,280 participants met our inclusion criteria. The duration of treatment ranged from 21 days to 24 months. The retention in treatment with naltrexone was 63% higher than controls (odds ratio (OR): 1.64 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.78-3.44]. The OR for being opioid-free was 1.63 (95% CI, 0.57-4.72). Injectable naltrexone was significantly effective on retention in treatment (OR 1.86; 95% CI, 1.17-2.98). Conclusions: We found that naltrexone could be useful for retention in treatment and being opioid-free, however, the findings were not significant. Further high-quality and large-scale observational studies are recommended.
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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.