Depressive Symptoms

Effects of Buprenorphine/Naloxone and Methadone on Depressive Symptoms in People with Prescription Opioid Use Disorder: A Pragmatic Randomised Controlled Trial

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  • People with prescription-type opioid use disorder who participated in the OPTIMA trial and were randomly assigned to:

    • Buprenorphine/ naloxone model of care with take home doses or;

    • Standard model of care with closely supervised methadone

  • To compare the effectiveness of flexible BUP/NX model of care to methadone for reducing depressive symptoms in individuals with prescription-type opioid use disorder.

  • Depressive symptoms were measured using the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D). The survey assesses different aspects of depression, such as mood, feelings of guilt, suicide ideation, and sleep disturbances.

    • Depressive symptoms decreased in both treatment groups at 3 and 6 month follow up.

    • There were no significant differences between the two treatment groups in terms of reduction in depressive symptoms.