Table 1.
Characteristics of patients referred to office-based buprenorphine treatment before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
| Patients' characteristic | Total |
Time of referral |
|
|---|---|---|---|
|
N = 107 n (%) |
Before the COVID-19 pandemic N = 72 n (%) |
During the COVID-19 pandemic N = 35 n (%) |
|
| Mean age in years (±SD) | 45.9 ± 14.1 | 45.4 ± 14.1 | 46.9 ± 14.1 |
| Female sex | 35 (32.7) | 23 (31.9) | 12 (34.3) |
| Race/ethnicity | |||
| Hispanic | 56 (52.3) | 36 (50.0) | 20 (57.1) |
| Non-Hispanic Black | 21 (19.6) | 15 (20.8) | 6 (17.1) |
| Non-Hispanic white | 19 (17.8) | 14 (19.4) | 5 (14.3) |
| Non-Hispanic other or unknown | 11 (10.3) | 7 (9.7) | 4 (11.4) |
| Private insurance | 21 (19.6) | 10 (13.9) | 11 (31.4)⁎ |
| Heroin use at time of referral | 63 (58.9) | 38(52.8) | 25 (71.4) |
| History of injection drug use | 22 (20.6) | 15(20.8) | 7 (20.0) |
| Medication for OUD at time of referral | |||
| None | 50 (46.7) | 33 (45.8) | 17 (48.6) |
| Buprenorphine | 50 (46.7) | 35 (48.6) | 15 (42.9) |
| Methadone | 7 (6.5) | 4 (5.6) | 3 (8.6) |
| Referred from an acute care setting | 27 (25.2) | 14 (19.4) | 13 (37.1)⁎ |
| Opioid use disorder cascade of care | |||
| Initial visit scheduled | 89 (83.2) | 62 (86.1) | 27 (77.1) |
| Initial visit completion | 82 (76.6) | 57 (79.2) | 25 (71.4) |
| Treatment initiation | 81 (75.7) | 56 (77.8) | 25 (71.4) |
| 90-day treatment retention | 41 (38.3) | 24 (33.3) | 17 (48.6) |
⁎
p < 0.05.