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Who uses methadone services in C hina? Monitoring the world's largest methadone programme
Author(s) -
Sullivan Sheena G.,
Wu Zunyou,
Rou Keming,
Pang Lin,
Luo Wei,
Wang Changhe,
Cao Xiaobin,
Yin Wenyuan,
Liu Enwu,
Mi Guodong
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
addiction
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.424
H-Index - 193
eISSN - 1360-0443
pISSN - 0965-2140
DOI - 10.1111/add.12781
Subject(s) - methadone , medicine , methadone maintenance , syphilis , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , hepatitis c , heroin , substance abuse , needle sharing , demography , emergency medicine , psychiatry , family medicine , drug , condom , sociology
Aims To describe the data collected by the C hinese methadone maintenance treatment ( MMT ) system and the characteristics of clients entering the programme. Design Descriptive study using routinely collected data from the MMT data management system for the period M arch 2004 and M arch 2010. Setting All MMT clinics in C hina. Participants Clients who enrolled for services between M arch 2004 and M arch 2010. Measurements Routinely collected data included: demographic information; drug use, sexual and criminal behaviours; status of infection with human immunodeficiency virus ( HIV ), hepatitis C virus ( HCV ) and syphilis; random urine‐opiate test results; and the daily methadone dose received. Differences among clients by year were examined. Findings During the period examined, there were 251 974 clients attending 684 clinics in 27 provinces. Overall, the mean age was 34.4 years, 83.8% were male, 70.2% were unemployed, 75% had ever injected drugs, 17% had shared needles and 7.4% were HIV ‐positive. The profile of clients changed over time, with fewer HIV ‐positive individuals, fewer injecting drug users, fewer needle‐sharers, fewer females and fewer unemployed. Half the clients dropped out within 6 months. The average final dose received was 49.4 mg. The estimated probability of interrupting treatment before 6 months was 52.5%. Conclusions The profile of clients enrolling in methadone maintenance treatment in C hina is continually changing and appears to be associated with reduced risk of HIV . High dropout in the programme may limit its effectiveness. The availability of a centralized, real‐time data system was extremely useful for monitoring the progress of the C hinese methadone maintenance treatment programme.