Table 2.
Impact of heroin maintenance programme on drug use, Geneva, 1995-6.Values are numbers (percentages) of subjects unless stated otherwise
| Variable | Experimental group (n=27)
|
Control group (n=21)
|
P value‡ for difference between groups | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baseline | Follow up† | Baseline | Follow up† | |||
| Use of street heroin in past month: | ||||||
| None | 0 | 21 (78) | 0 | 7 (33) | ||
| Occasionally | 0 | 5 (19) | 2 (10) | 4 (19) | ||
| Daily | 27 (100) | 1 (4)***§ | 19 (90) | 10 (48)**§ | 0.002¶ | |
| Daily use in past month: | ||||||
| Alcohol | 6 (22) | 5 (19) | 3 (14) | 4 (19) | 1.00 | |
| Tobacco | 25 (93) | 26 (96) | 21 (100) | 20 (95) | 1.00 | |
| Hashish/cannabis | 6 (22) | 4 (15) | 1 (5) | 3 (14) | 0.49 | |
| Cocaine | 1 (4) | 1 (4) | 2 (10) | 2 (10) | 1.00 | |
| Barbiturates‡‡ | 4 (15) | 2 (7) | 3 (14) | 3 (14) | 1.00 | |
| Benzodiazepines‡‡ | 12 (44) | 0*** | 9 (43) | 7 (33) | 0.049 | |
| Opiates other than heroin‡‡ | 2 (7) | 0 | 1 (5) | 0 | 1.00¶ | |
| At least one overdose in past 6 months | 13 (48) | 4 (15)* | 8 (38) | 6 (29) | 0.48 | |
| Mean (SD) No of overdoses in past 6 months | 1.0 (1.5) | 0.2 (0.6)** | 0.8 (1.7) | 0.6 (1.4) | 0.29 | |
†
Significance of before comparisons between baseline and follow up denoted by *P<0.05, **P<0.01, ***P<0.001. Continuous variables: Wilcoxon matched pairs rank sum test (exact), dichotomous variables: McNemar’s test (exact).
‡
Continuous variables: Mann-Whitney U test (exact), dichotomous variables: test of homogeneity of McNemar odds ratio (exact).
§
McNemar’s test on proportion of daily users.
¶
Fisher’s exact test on proportion of daily drug users at baseline who had given up daily use on follow up.
‡‡
Excluding prescribed medications.