Table 1 Individual study characteristics (17 included studies)
Author, year and country | Diagnosis/sample details | Study length | Intervention/dose | Number of participants (% male) | Mean age by treatment group (years), SD | Summary of substance use outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Anderson, A 2012 USA [35] | MA dependence/adults with any frequency of use | 16 weeks | Modafinil/200 or 400 mg once daily on awakening | 210 (59.1% male) | Modafinil 200 mg 37.6 (8.9) Modafinil 400 mg 40 (8.4) Placebo 39.4 (8.6) | No significant difference in MA non-use weeks (p = 0.53, GEE), MA non-use days (p = 0.63, overall Kruskal–Wallis) or terminal abstinence (Fisher’s exact p = 0.84) between modafinil groups and placebo |
Anderson, A 2015 USA [12] | MA dependence/low frequency users (≤29 of past 30 days) | 12 weeks | Bupropion/150 mg twice daily | 204 (65% male) | Total sample 39.3 (NR) | Treatment success, defined as ≥2 negative urines in weeks 11 and 12, was achieved by 14% (14/100) of the bupropion group and 19% (20/104) of the placebo group (chi-square, p = 0.32) |
Das, M 2010 USA [21] | MA dependence/among men having sex with men | 12 weeks | Bupropion/150 mg 1 pill every morning for 1 week, then 2 150 mg pills every morning thereafter | 30 (100% male) | Bupropion 38.1 (2) Placebo 33.3 (3) | Reductions in meth-metabolite-positive urines were similar in the bupropion and placebo groups (normal-logistic model, p = 0.63) |
Elkashef, A 2008 USA [22] | MA dependence/adults with any frequency of use | 18 weeks | Bupropion/150 mg once daily for 3 days, then increased to 300 mg daily (1 tablet twice a day) for 11 weeks | 151 (67% male) | Bupropion 36.2 (9.2) Placebo 35.7 (8.4) | No significant improvement for percentage of participants with MA-free study weeks in the bupropion group (week 1 = 25%; week 12 = 54%) compared to placebo (week 1 = 29%; week 12 = 44%) (GEE, p = 0.09) |
Galloway, G 2011 USA [23] | MA dependence/adults with any frequency of use | 8 weeks | Dextroamphetamine/60 mg daily—single dose on the first day and as 2 equally divided doses on subsequent days | 60 (56.7% male) | Dextroamphetamine 37 (7.2) Placebo 37.5 (7.2) | Out of 16 urine tests over the 8-week trial period, the dextroamphetamine group had 2.9 ± 4.3 MA-negative results and the placebo group had 3.2 ± 5.0 MA-negative results (Mann–Whitney U test: W = 441, p = 0.894) |
Heinzerling, K 2010 USA [24] | MA dependence/adults with any frequency of use | 14 weeks | Modafinil/200 mg per day (taken in the morning) for the first 3 days of the study, followed by an increase to 400 mg per day (in the morning) | 71 (70.4% male) | Modafinil 39.1 (11.1) Placebo 37.8 (10.1) | No significant association between treatment group assignment and the probability of providing MA-free urine drug screens across the treatment period (OR = 0.78, 95% CI 0.39–1.56, p = 0.49 for modafinil relative to placebo) |
Heinzerling, K 2013 USA [33] | MA abuse or dependence/adolescent low frequency users (≤18 of past 30 days) | 8 weeks | Bupropion/150 mg twice daily | 19 (47.4% male) | Bupropion 17.5 (1.6) Placebo 17.7 (1.1) | Mean number of twice weekly MA-negative urine screens in bupropion group = 5.0 and placebo group = 8.9 (p = 0.043) |
Heinzerling, K 2014 USA [13] | MA dependence/low frequency users (≤29 of past 30 days) | 16 weeks | Bupropion/150 mg once daily for 3 days, then 150 mg twice daily | 84 (80.9% male) | Bupropion 38.6 (10.1) Placebo 38.1 (10.3) | No significant difference in the proportion of participants with MA abstinence during weeks 11 and 12, for bupropion = 12/41 and placebo = 6/43 (p = 0.087) |
Konstenius, M 2010 Sweden [25] | Amphetamine dependence/among individuals with ADHD | 13 weeks | Methylphenidate/18 mg starting dose titrated over period of 10 days to the maximum dose of 72 mg | 24 (75% male) | Methylphenidate 34.6 (10.1) Placebo 39.7 (9.8) | No significant difference in proportion of positive urine screens during the study between methylphenidate (mean = 10.6, SD = 8.8) and placebo groups (mean = 8.6, SD = 7.8) (p = 0.472) |
Konstenius, M 2014 Sweden [26] | Amphetamine dependence/among incarcerated individuals with ADHD | 24 weeks | Methylphenidate/18 mg starting dose titrated over a period of 19 days (with 36 mg increments every 3 days), to a maximum dose of 180 mg/day | 54 (100% male) | Methylphenidate 41 (7.5) Placebo 42 (11.7) | Significant difference in proportion of drug-negative urines in methylphenidate group (MD = 23%, n = 27) compared to placebo group (MD = 16%, n = 27) p = 0.047 |
Ling, W 2014 USA [27] | MA dependence/adults with any frequency of use | 14 weeks | Methylphenidate/18 mg daily for week 1, 36 mg for week 2 and 54 mg for weeks 3–10 | 110 (81.8% male) | Methylphenidate 38.7 (9.8) Placebo 39.5 (10.4) | Methylphenidate group was less likely to be MA positive compared to placebo group at week 14 (OR = 0.18, p = 0.025) |
Longo, M 2009 Australia [29] | MA dependence/adults with any frequency of use | 12 weeks | Dexamphetamine/20 mg/day starting dose increased by 10 mg daily as required until stabilized or to a maximum of 110 mg/day (stabilized over 14 days) | 49 (61.2% male) | Dexamphetamine 31.9 (4.5) Placebo 31.9 (5.6) | Significant decrease of MA concentration in hair for both groups (p < 0.0001) but no significant difference between groups (p value not provided) |
Miles, SW 2013 Finland and New Zealand [28] | Amphetamine or MA dependence/adults with any frequency of use | 22 weeks | Methylphenidate/18 mg/day for the first week, 36 mg daily for the second week and 54 mg daily thereafter until the end of week 22 | 78 (62.8% male) | Methylphenidate 38.9 (9.2) Placebo 34 (8.5) | No significant difference in mean percentage of positive urine tests over the course of the study between methylphenidate (mean = 89%, SD = 19) and placebo (mean = 90%, SD = 14) groups (p = 0.89) |
Rezaei, F 2015 Iran [31] | MA dependence/adults with any frequency of use | 10 weeks | Methylphenidate/18 mg/day during the first week and 36 mg/day during the second week and then received 54 mg/day for the remaining 8 weeks | 56 (73.2% male) | Methylphenidate 35.6 (6.9) Placebo 34.7 (9.1) | Methylphenidate group had significantly less MA-positive urine tests compared to placebo at week 10 (p = 0.03) |
Shearer, J 2009 Australia [34] | MA dependence/regular users (2–3 days of use per week or more) | 22 weeks | Modafinil/200 mg/day | 80 (62.5% male) | Modafinil 35.8 (6.9) Placebo 36.1 (9.1) | No significant difference in proportion of stimulant-positive weekly urine drug screens between groups (chi-square = 17.10, p = 0.07) |
Shoptaw, S 2008 USA [30] | MA dependence/adults with any frequency of use | 12 weeks | Bupropion/150 mg per day for days 1–3, followed by an increase to 300 mg per day (one 150 mg capsule taken twice daily) until week 12 | 73 (64.4% male) | Bupropion 34.6 (10.6) Placebo 34.6 (10.0) | No significant difference between treatment groups in the mean MA-free urine screens or the probability of achieving a MA-free week in a GEE model (chi-square = 0.004, degrees of freedom = 71, p = 0.95) |
Tiihonen, J 2007 Finland [32] | Amphetamine or MA dependence/among intravenous users | 20 weeks | Methylphenidate/18 mg/day for the first week, 36 mg/day for the second week, and 54 mg/day thereafter | 34 (70.6% male) | Methylphenidate 35.1 (7.9) Placebo 40 (10.1) | Significantly fewer positive urine samples in methylphenidate group compared to placebo group (OR = 0.42, 95% CI = 0.24–0.72; z = −3.14, p = 0.002) |