Follow-up Study of Drug Use, Depression, and Anxiety Reduction and Quality of Life in Addicts on Methadone Maintenance Therapy

Abstract

Background: This study aimed to evaluate reduced drug consumption, risky behaviors, depression, and anxiety and improved quality of life in addicts on methadone maintenance therapy (MMT) at baseline and six months after therapy. Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 275 addicts were selected by a random sampling method in 2017. The data collection tools consisted of four questionnaires including a demographic information questionnaire, the Beck depression inventory questionnaire, WHOQOL-26, and Spielberger Anxiety Inventory. Data analysis was done by SPSS20 software at a confidence level of 95%. Results: Based on the obtained results, after six months, MMT efficiency was 50.5% and no cases of intravenous injection were reported. The consumption of other drugs was significantly reduced (P < 0.05). The highest prevalence of depression was observed in cannabis and opium users. Depression decreased from 85.81% to 63.27%. The mean scores of quality of life and anxiety after MMT increased to 89.6 and 20.41, respectively. The most improvement was in the physical health domain (mean score of 64.11). Conclusions: The results showed improvements in all the four domains of physical health, psychological health, social relationship, and environment and reductions in depression and anxiety.