Outcome | Definition | Measurement of variable | Statistics | Studies |
---|---|---|---|---|
Drug use-related behavior | ||||
Response to treatment | Abstaining from illicit opioid use throughout treatment duration | Urine screening | Percentage | |
Self reported opioid use (daily or weekly) over specified time period | Mixed model ANOVA Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel statistic | |||
Treatment retention or duration | Proportion of participants completing treatment; days in treatment from first to last day of therapy | Number of days patient remains in treatment | Cox proportional hazards model | |
Proportion of patients retained in treatment for pre-specified duration of study | Kaplan-Meier survival curve | |||
Remission status post-treatment | Abstinence from use of illicit opioids at follow-up | Urine screening | t-test | |
Self-reported opioid use (any) after treatment | 2x2 factorial ANOVA | |||
Polysubstance use | Use of at least two (non-opioid) substances throughout the course of treatment | Self-reported use of substances daily or weekly or in last 30 days | Percentage | |
Fischer’s Exact Test | ||||
Net reduction in proportion of drug abuse after specific duration | ||||
Health and methadone-related outcomes | ||||
Methadone dose | Average daily methadone dose | Milligrams/day | Difference in means (SD) | [38] |
Mean methadone dose after specific duration in treatment | ||||
Drug-related adverse events | Reaction to treatment drug | Interview/physical examination | Percentage | [17] |
Number of hospitalizations | t-test | |||
Health status | Change in health status during course of therapy | Interview/physical examination | ANOVA | |
Number of hospitalizations | ||||
Psychological status | Comorbidity of psychiatric disorders | Self-reported psychiatric problems | Percentage | |
Number of reported symptoms | Relative risk | |||
Validated psychiatric assessments | ANOVA | |||
Chi-square | ||||
Mortality | Treatment-related death or illicit drug use mortality | Mortality causes | Standardized mortality ratio (SMR) Kaplan-Meier survival curve | [45] |
Number of deaths | ||||
Annual death rate per year of age | ||||
Sociobehavioral functioning | ||||
Criminal behavior | Involvement in illegal activities, arrests, or incarcerations throughout treatment or at follow-up | Interview/self-report | Percentage | |
Current legal status | t-test | |||
ANOVA | ||||
High-risk sexual behavior | Involvement in behaviors that put the patient at high risk for HIV and other infections | Use of injection methods (30 days prior) | Weighted least-squares estimation procedure | |
Number of sex partners | Repeated measures ANOVA | |||
Incidence of unprotected sex | ||||
Social relations/support | Patient’s relationship status and conception of his/her relationship with others | Self-report | ANOVA | [17] |
Number of close friends/family | ||||
Marital and family status | ||||
Ratings of interactions | ||||
Employment | Status of employment and evidence of financial income | Change in self-reported employment status during treatment | Percentage | |
Difference in means (SD) | ||||
Employment status after treatment | ||||
ANOVA, analysis of variance. |