Table 1.
Demographic and clinical differences between harm reduction treatment and opioid agonist treatment patients
| HRT strategy N = 189 |
OAT strategy N = 58 |
T/chi | p | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Demographics | ||||
| Age, M ± sd | 30.41 ± 6.3 | 44.14 ± 8.7 | −11.09 | 0.000 |
| Gender (females), N (%) | 33 (17.5) | 23 (39.7) | 12.47 | 0.000 |
| Education (low), N (%) | 120 (63.5) | 49 (87.5) | 11.63 | 0.001 |
| Single, N (%) | 131 (70.1) | 41 (73.2) | 0.20 | 0.648 |
| Unemployed, N (%) | 66 (35.1) | 19 (32.8) | 4.77 | 0.189 |
| Income (adequate), N (%) | 151 (79.9) | 54 (93.1) | 5.48 | 0.019 |
| Welfare benefit, N (%) | 3 (1.6) | 20 (34.5) | 56.87 | 0.000 |
| Living alone, N (%) | 19 (10.1) | 29 (50.0) | 45.23 | 0.000 |
| Clinical features at treatment entry | ||||
| Age heroin first use, M ± sd | 18.64 ± 4.1 | 19.69 ± 5.1 | −1.59 | 0.112 |
| Age of continuous use, M ± sd | 21.33 ± 4.5 | 23.02 ± 6.0 | −1.96 | 0.053 |
| Dependence length (years), M ± sd | 7.30 ± 5.7 | 22.00 ± 9.1 | −11.60 | 0.000 |
| Age first treatment, M ± sd | 24.72 ± 4.9 | 25.36 ± 6.3 | −0.75 | 0.477 |
| Somatic complications, presence, N (%) | 130 (68.8) | 51 (89.5) | 9.64 | 0.002 |
| Altered mental status, presence, N (%) | 139 (73.5) | 55 (98.2) | 15.95 | 0.000 |
| Job concerns, presence, N (%) | 77 (41.6) | 35 (66.0) | 9.85 | 0.002 |
| Household concerns, presence, N (%) | 57 (30.5) | 33 (57.9) | 14.10 | 0.000 |
| Loving concerns, presence, N (%) | 64 (33.9) | 38 (66.7) | 19.41 | 0.000 |
| Social-leisure concerns, presence, N (%) | 74 (39.2) | 33 (57.9) | 6.25 | 0.012 |
| Legal problems, presence, N (%) | 56 (29.6) | 36 (62.1) | 19.98 | 0.000 |
| Polyabuse, presence, N (%) | 77 (40.7) | 16 (28.6) | 2.71 | 0.099 |
| Past treated, N (%) | 161 (85.2) | 58 (100.0) | 9.52 | 0.002 |
| Combined treatments, N (%) | 164 (86.8) | 54 (94.7) | 2.75 | 0.097 |
| Heroin intake, daily or more, N (%) | 113 (59.8) | 41 (70.7) | 2.24 | 0.134 |
| Modality of use, unstable, N (%) | 58 (30.7) | 16 (28.1) | 0.14 | 0.706 |
| Periodic self detoxifications, N (%) | 137 (72.5) | 49 (84.5) | 3.43 | 0.064 |
| Stage 3 reached, N (%) | 147 (77.8) | 46 (79.3) | 0.06 | 0.805 |
| Dual diagnosis, presence, N (%) | 108 (57.1) | 32 (55.2) | 0.07 | 0.791 |
| Observational period (months), M ± sd | 13.34 ± 3.0 | 18.68 ± 3.8 | −9.69 | 0.000 |
| Substitution medications | HRT strategy | OAT strategy | z* | p |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| N = 102 | N = 43 | |||
| Methadone dose, M ± sd | 67.21 ± 25.8 | 53.12 ± 25.9 | −2.65 | 0.008 |
| N = 87 | N = 15 | |||
| Buprenorphine dose, M ± sd | 7.29 ± 4.2 | 6.47 ± 4.4 | −0.94 | 0.343 |