title: Take home maintenance medication in opiate dependence.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Opiate-dependent patients can be given several days' worth of maintenance medication to take home. We studied whether the patients chosen to receive take home maintenance medication met the criteria that were published in the guidelines of the German Medical Association. These include, among other things: abstinence from additional consumption of heath-endangering substances, psychosocial reintegration, completion of the switch from illegal narcotics to the substitute maintenance medication, and clinical stabilization.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this study, data were obtained by questionnaire over the period from May to October 2011 from patients of all 20 psychiatric hospitals and all 110 physicians' practices with licenses to provide opiate maintenance medication in Berlin, Germany.
  
  
  RESULTS
  986 (19.9%) of the 5032 patients taking opiate medication answered the study questionnaire; 956 gave information about the frequency with which they received medication. 365 of these 956 patients (38.2%) reported having received take home medication. Among them, 197 (56.0%) said that they additionally consumed health-endangering substances, compared to 388 (69.9%) of those who received maintenance medication every day (p<0.0001). Lower rates of additional consumption among recipients of take home maintenance medication were also found for each of the substances heroin, cocaine, and benzodiazepines (p<0.0001 for each). Patients receiving take home medication more commonly indicated that they were employed and tended to have been in the maintenance program longer than patients receiving maintenance medication every day (p<0.0001 for each question). Clinical stabilization, i.e., improvement of mental and physical health, was reported in equal measure by patients who were and were not receiving take home medication.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The patient questionnaire reveals that most patients receiving take home maintenance medication meet the criteria specified in the guidelines of the German Medical Association.
authors.affiliation: Psychiatric University Hospital Charité, St. Hedwig Hospital, Berlin, Germany. Stefan.Gutwinski@charite.de
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gutwinski
authors.forename: Lena Karoline
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Bald
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Heinz
authors.forename: Christian A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.forename: Ane Katrin
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.forename: Corinde
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wiers
authors.forename: Felix
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bermpohl
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gallinat
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D060046:Maintenance Chemotherapy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D008691:Methadone / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008875:Middle Aged; D058850:Opiate Substitution Treatment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009293:Opioid-Related Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D055656:Prescriptions / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015995:Prevalence; D011788:Quality of Life; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012646:Self Administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D008691:Methadone