Heroin dependence in an English town: 33-year follow-up.
BACKGROUND
There has been no long-term study of people addicted to injected heroin who have been treated without the prescribing of substitute opioids.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the outcome for patients treated for injected heroin addiction 33 years after they were first seen, and 26 years after they were first followed up, in terms of sustained abstinence, continuing maintenance on methadone and deaths.


METHODS
Eighty-six people with heroin addiction first seen in in 1966-1967 in a small town in the south-east of England were located and their clinical state assessed using multiple sources, including personal interviews with a proportion of the cohort.


RESULTS
Forty-two per cent of the cohort had been abstinent for at least 10 years; 10% were taking methadone and were classified as addicted; and 22% had died. Eight percent of the cohort could not be located.


CONCLUSIONS
Results proved favourable in the above three parameters compared with other long-term studies.
Rathod
Nehkant H Raj
NH
Society of Analytical Psychology, London. rajrathod@onetel.com
Addenbrooke
W Mary
WM
Rosenbach
Alan F
AF
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D002423:Cause of Death; D004739:England / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006556:Heroin Dependence / Q000401:mortality / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008691:Methadone / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D015819:Substance Abuse, Intravenous / Q000401:mortality / Q000534:rehabilitation*
D008691:Methadone