[Heroin maintenance for persons with chronic heroin dependence]
Dalsbo T , Steiro A , Hammerstrøm K , Smedslund G
Record ID 32010001805
English, Norwegian
Authors' recommendations:
Available documentation gives an inadequate foundation to answer which maintenance treatment option is the best for persons with chronic heroin dependence. The total documentation for the pre-defined outcomes retention in treatment, illegal drug use, quality of life, and serious adverse events such as death and overdose is of very low quality using the grade approach.
Using our standard way of presenting results from single studies of low quality our conclusion is that:
For the varied heroin assisted maintenance treatments compared to traditional methadone maintenance treatment for persons with chronic heroin dependence the quality is too low for us to be certain whether mortality, retention in treatment, use of illegal drugs, severe adverse events or quality of live is affected.
Even though the quality, from a Norwegian perspective, is graded to be very low, others can argue that the intervention is effective and promising for patients in other countries.
We conclude that we have insufficient documentation to support or refute the use of heroin assisted treatment for persons with chronic heroin dependence. The conclusions could be altered if new research material becomes available. We support the conclusion from the included systematic review from 2005 where more research was called for. We need research in Norway to answer the question of effectiveness for a Norwegian context.
Details
Project Status:
Completed
URL for project:
http://www.kunnskapssenteret.no/Publikasjoner/9840.cms?language=english&threepage=1
Year Published:
2010
English language abstract:
An English language summary is available
Publication Type:
Not Assigned
Country:
Norway
MeSH Terms
- Heroin
- Methadone
- Opiate Substitution Treatment
- Substance Withdrawal Syndrome
Contact
Organisation Name:
Norwegian Institute of Public Health
Contact Address:
Universitetsgata 2, Postbox 7004 St. Olavs plass, NO-0310 Oslo NORWAY. Tel: +47 23 25 50 00; Fax: +47 23 25 50 10;
Contact Name:
Berit.Morland@nokc.no, dagny.fredheim@nokc.no
Contact Email:
Berit.Morland@nokc.no, dagny.fredheim@nokc.no
Copyright:
Norwegian Knowledge Centre for the Health Services (NOKC)
This is a bibliographic record of a published health technology assessment from a member of INAHTA or other HTA producer. No evaluation of the quality of this assessment has been made for the HTA database.