title: Opioid Agonist Treatment for Patients With Dependence on Prescription Opioids.
abstract: Are different opioid agonist treatments (eg, methadone vs buprenorphine) associated with differences in efficacy for treating prescription opioid dependence, and is long-term maintenance of opioid agonist treatment associated with differences in efficacy compared with opioid taper or psychological treatments alone?
  
  
  
  For patients who are dependent on prescription opioids, long-term maintenance of opioid agonists is associated with less prescription opioid use and better adherence to medication and psychological therapies for opioid dependence compared with opioid taper or psychological treatments alone. Methadone maintenance was not associated with differences in therapeutic efficacy compared with buprenorphine maintenance treatment. Evidence quality was low to moderate.
authors.affiliation: National Drug and Alcohol Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Suzanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nielsen
authors.affiliation: National Drug and Alcohol Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Briony
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Larance
authors.affiliation: Discipline of Addiction Medicine, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Nicholas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Lintzeris
mesh_terms: D002047:Buprenorphine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D008691:Methadone / Q000627:therapeutic use; D009292:Narcotic Antagonists / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D058850:Opiate Substitution Treatment; D009293:Opioid-Related Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy*; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
chemical_list: D009292:Narcotic Antagonists; D002047:Buprenorphine; D008691:Methadone