title: Quality of Life in Methadone Maintenance Treated Patients in Iran.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Measurement of life quality as an index of health status has a widespread application in health care domain.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The current study aimed to determine the quality of life of referents to addiction cessation centers of Iran.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this cross-sectional study, 988 addicts who had referred to addiction cessation centers in Shahroud were studied through SF-36 questionnaire. The data were analyzed using linear regression in structural equation modeling and STATA 12 statistical software.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean ± SD age of the participants was 41.2 ± 11.8 years. Most of the referents used smoking followed by eating method of opium abuse. The mean ± SD score of life quality was 67.8 ± 17.2, the mean ± SD score of life quality in physical health dimension was 76.9 ± 26.7, and the mean ± SD score in mental health dimension was 64.5 ± 18.4. Univariate analysis showed a significant relationship between life quality and gender, place of residence, education, occupation, marital status, and income (P ≤ 0.05). However, in multivariate analysis a significant relationship was observed only between gender, socioeconomic status, and quality of life score.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although most studies have reported low and weak quality of life in addicts, the findings of this study shows that the life quality score of addicts is rather good. It seems that the maintenance treatment that addicts receive in addiction cessation centers has been effective in improving the quality of life of the patients. Hence, expanding methadone treatment centers can play a leading role in the improvement of life quality in addicts.
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Imam Hossein Hospital, Shahroud University of Medical Sciences, Shahroud, IR Iran.
authors: Shahrokh
authors: S
authors: Aghayan
authors: Department of Public Health, School of Public Health, Shahroud University of Medical Sciences, Shahroud, IR Iran.
authors: Mohammad
authors: M
authors: Amiri
authors: Department of Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Yasuj University of Medical Sciences, Yasuj, IR Iran.
authors: Reza
authors: R
authors: Chaman
authors: Center for Health Related Social and Behavioral Sciences Research, Shahroud University of Medical Sciences, Shahroud, IR Iran.
authors: Ahmad
authors: A
authors: Khosravi
keywords: Behavior, Addictive; Methadone; Quality of Life