OBJECTIVES Methadone is a well-studied, safe, and effective medication when dispensed and consumed properly. However, a number of studies have identified elevated rates of overdose and death in patients being treated with methadone for either addiction or chronic pain. Among patients being treated with methadone in federally certified opioid treatment programs, deaths most often occur during th...

The study investigated the effects of time spent in prison and quality of life before prison on male, federally sentenced prisoners’ adaptations to imprisonment, controlling for sentence length and prison security level. Data consisted of responses on a self-administered survey completed by 712 prisoners. Findings tended to support the independent effects of the indigenous (deprivation) and imp...

OBJECTIVES Methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) effectively reduces illicit opioid use and its negative consequences when patients participate in and adhere to treatment. Patients' participation and adherence may relate to their perceptions about methadone doses and dose adjustments and the meanings that patients associate with treatment. This study assessed patient perceptions about methadone...

BACKGROUND Methadone is frequently administered to adults experiencing anesthesia and receiving pain treatment. Methadone pharmacokinetics in adults are well characterized, including the perioperative period. Methadone is also used in children. There is, however, no information on methadone pharmacokinetics in children of any age. The purpose of this investigation was to determine the pharmacok...

STUDY OBJECTIVE To determine whether methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) is effective in reducing the levels of HIV risk-taking behaviour (borrowing and lending of injection equipment, irregular condom use) among injecting drug users (IDUs), and to identify independent predictors of the borrowing of used syringes. DESIGN Cross sectional study of IDUs in MMT and not in MMT, using standardise...

Methadone maintenance treatment has been shown in many studies to reduce mortality and morbidity among heroin users. However, there has been concern that widespread methadone prescribing will lead conversely to an increase in methadone-related deaths. This study in Sheffield shows no increase in methadone-related mortality over a two-year period, during which 400 untreated patients were recruit...

INTRODUCTION The use of methadone as an analgesic is on the increase, but it is widely recognized that the goal of predictable and reproducible dosing is confounded by considerable variability in methadone pharmacokinetics, and unpredictable side effects that include sedation, respiratory depression and cardiac arrhythmias. The mechanisms underlying these unpredictable effects are frequently un...

The main purpose of this research was to determine the influence a therapeutic dose an opioid drug (methadone) on selected auditory functions in patients addicted opioids (recognition ICD-10; F11) and undergoing substitution therapy. Various hearing tests were used – pure tone audiometry, impedance otoacoustic emission measurement, speech noise test two sessions, before after methadone intake. ...

PURPOSE The objectives of this analysis were to assess the role of methadone and related substances in death occurring, discussing methadone blood concentrations and the contribution of the autopsy to the accountability of methadone in the death process. METHOD We retrospectively analyzed all forensic cases positive for methadone from January 2000 to December 2010, in Montpellier and the regi...

BACKGROUND In France, methadone has historically been less accessible than buprenorphine. In 2008, a dry formulation (capsule) was introduced into the market, aimed in particular to improve methadone accessibility. OBJECTIVE To describe the impact (prevalence of use, patient profiles and compliance with requirements) of the dry methadone formulation in France. METHOD A retrospective cohort ...