Sociodemographic characteristics of patients with children in a methadone maintenance program: a cross-sectional study

Hamnah Shahid,Lehana Thabane,Zainab Samaan,Laura Zielinski,Ieta Shams,Jackie Hudson,Nitika Sanger,Natalia Mouravska,Candice Luo,Meha Bhatt,Sabrina Luetam

doi:10.1186/s12954-019-0283-9

Abstract

BackgroundEver-increasing numbers of opioid use disorder (OUD) in Canada has created the recent opioid crisis. One common treatment for OUD is methadone maintenance treatment (MMT). Various factors, including being a parent which entails specific stressors, may increase susceptibility to negative treatment outcomes. This study aims to investigate differences between OUD patients with and without children in socio-demographic and clinical outcomes.MethodsData for this study are part of a larger program. All participants are 18+ years old with OUD, provided consent, and receiving MMT. We performed a multivariable logistic regression to examine the differences between participants’ parental status, sociodemographic variables, and clinical parameters including MMT outcomes. We performed subgroup analyses on individuals with children younger than 18.ResultsA total of 1099 participants were included, with 64% having children. Participants with children were older (OR 1.06, 95% CI 1.04, 1.08), more likely to be female (OR 2.39, 95% CI 1.75, 3.27), living with a partner (OR 1.75, 95% CI 1.27, 2.41), first exposed to opioids through a prescription (OR 1.517, 95% CI 1.13, 2.04) and had lower levels of education (OR 1.86, 95% CI 1.20, 2.87). There was no significant difference in illicit opioid use patterns between groups. Same results held true in the subgroup analyses based on the age of the children except for participant age.ConclusionOur results demonstrate social and demographic differences between parents and non-parents receiving MMT. These differences highlight the need to understand necessary additional support for parents such as child support and other necessary therapies.

Highlights

Prescription opioids (PO) are medications used for treating illnesses including chronic pain and opioid use disorder (OUD) [1]
These results suggest that individuals with children are demographically different and more likely to receive opioids through a prescription; they may have different risk factors, such as increased parenting responsibility that can increase daily stress levels or physical stress unique to parents that can impact their likelihood of opioid use disorder requiring special attention from health care providers
We found that patients with children are more likely to be women compared to patients without children; this population may not represent all fathers with OUD because fathers on maintenance treatment (MMT) may be overlooked in treatment

Summary

Introduction

Prescription opioids (PO) are medications used for treating illnesses including chronic pain and opioid use disorder (OUD) [1]. To combat OUD, methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) is commonly used as an opioid substitution therapy due to its availability, government subsidization, and Despite MMT’s effectiveness, studies have shown a 30 to 70% rate of relapse in MMT patients with little research investigating factors explaining such high rates [7, 8]. Many randomized controlled trials that tested the effectiveness of opioid substitution therapies including methadone excluded patients with comorbid disorders leading to various rates of response compared to other types of study designs such as observational studies [10]. Despite studies investigating the efficacy of MMT in the general population [11, 12], there has been a limited number of studies exploring the influence of parental responsibilities on MMT outcomes. This study aims to investigate differences between OUD patients with and without children in socio-demographic and clinical outcomes

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Discussion

Conclusion