Best practice portal main page
Opioid substitution treatment to improve mental health outcomes in the short-term
Summary of the evidence
Opioid substitution treatment was found to be effective in a systematic review, without meta-analysis, (Fingleton et al., 2015, N=22 studies, 19 RCTs and 3 national cohort studies), in:
- improving mental health outcomes, eg. psychiatric, depressive and psychopathology symptoms, anxiety and stress (significant positive outcomes in 14 out of the 22 studies). Improvements were greatest in the first six months and studies with a longer follow-up reported no further improvement or that the improvements were not sustained.
Details
Note: this evidence summary is only valid for the outcomes, target groups, settings and substances/patterns of use described below.
