It has been
estimated that 1.35 million people are heroin users in European countries.
Heroin dependence is a chronic disease characterized by compulsive drug-taking
behavior despite serious negative consequences and, specifically, injection
drug users have high prevalence of infectious diseases, drug overdose, and
psychiatric disorders. Approximately 90,000 patients receive methadone
treatment in Spain.
Treatment with
methadone has been shown to reduce the risk of death as compared to no
treatment
In a recent
study located in Badalona (Spain), we aimed to analyze the survival of heroin
users and predictors of death in 1.678 patients admitted to a methadone
treatment program in the CAS-Delta (1992-2010).
The CAS-Delta is a primary care center for outpatient addiction
treatment, and serves an area with 400,000 inhabitants over five
municipalities, including Badalona.
At the end of study, 441 (26.3%) patients had died and
14 (3.2%) of deaths occurred within one month of first entry to treatment.
The results of this study shows that MTP patient
mortality decreased sharply for two decades and that HIV/AIDS is the main
predictor of death among this population. However, that mortality has recently slightly increased among HIV-infected women.
Adapting treatment delivery to
patients’ life conditions and improving the coordination of different health
care levels is essential to improve survival of HIV-positive women.
Muga R, Rivas I, Faure E, Fuster D, Zuluaga P, Rubio M, Muñoz T, Torrens M, Tor J, Sanvisens A.
BMC Infect Dis. 2014 Sep 17;14:504.
