Effects of ethnicity on low-dose opiate stabilization.
In a recent randomized clinical trial using buprenorphine (2 and 6 mg) and methadone (35 and 65 mg), we compared low-level opiate withdrawal symptoms among Whites (n = 84), Hispanics (n = 20), and African Americans (n = 21). During the first 2 months of opiate stabilization, persistent low-level opiate withdrawal symptoms were significantly lower in African-Americans and Hispanics than in the white patients. As expected pharmacologically, this relative underreporting of low-level withdrawal by minority patients was greater for the low opiate doses (buprenorphine 2 mg and methadone 35 mg). This underreporting may reflect sociocultural as well as biological differences, because subjective, but not objective, withdrawal symptoms showed this ethnic difference.
Kosten
T R
TR
Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
Rayford
B S
BS
D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology; D002047:Buprenorphine / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008691:Methadone / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects; D009460:Neurologic Examination / Q000187:drug effects; D009293:Opioid-Related Disorders / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D013375:Substance Withdrawal Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology
D002047:Buprenorphine; D008691:Methadone