Changes in substance use in relation to opioid agonist therapy among people who use drugs in a Canadian setting.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Although previous studies have shown that opioid agonist therapy (OAT) is linked to reductions in illicit opioid use, less is known about how OAT impacts the use of other psychoactive substances. We aimed to examine the changes in use of different substances by comparing patterns before and after initiating OAT.

Methods

Data for this study was derived from three ongoing prospective cohorts involving people who use drugs in Vancouver, Canada from 1996 to 2018. We assessed use patterns for heroin, illicit prescription opioid, cocaine, crack cocaine, crystal methamphetamine, cannabis, daily alcohol use, and benzodiazepines. Segmented regression was conducted to compare the trends of substance use between pre-treatment and post-treatment periods.

Results

The st

SUBMITTER: Dong H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7462099 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature