Evaluating the impact of community‐based treatment options on methamphetamine use: findings from the M ethamphetamine T reatment E valuation S tudy ( MATES )
Year: 2012
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: AIMS: To evaluate the impact of community-based drug treatment on methamphetamine use using inverse probability of treatment-weighted (IPTW) estimators to derive treatment effects. DESIGN: A longitudinal prospective cohort study with follow-ups at 3 months, 1 year and 3 years. Treatment effects were derived by comparing groups at follow-up. IPTW estimators were used to adjust for pre-treatment differences between groups. SETTING: Sydney and Brisbane, Australia. PARTICIPANTS: Participants were methamphetamine users entering community-based detoxification (n = 112) or residential rehabilitation (n = 248) services and a quasi-control group of methamphetamine users (n = 101) recruited from the community. MEASUREMENTS: Frequency of methamphetamine use between interviews (no use, less than weekly, 1-2 days per week, 3+ days per week), continuous abstinence from methamphetamine use, past month methamphetamine use and methamphetamine dependence. FINDINGS: Detoxification did not reduce methamphetamine use at any follow-up relative to the quasi-control group. Relative to quasi-control and detoxification groups combined, residential rehabilitation produced large reductions in the frequency of methamphetamine use at 3 months [odds ratio (OR) = 0.23, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.15-0.36, P < 0.001), with a marked attenuation of this effect at 1 year (OR 0.62, 95% CI 0.40-0.97, P = 0.038) and 3 years (OR = 0.71, 95% CI 0.42-1.19, P = 0.189). The greatest impact was for abstinence: for every 100 residential rehabilitation clients there was a gain of 33 being continuously abstinent at 3 months, with this falling to 14 at 1 year and 6 at 3 years. CONCLUSIONS: Community-based residential rehabilitation may produce a time-limited decrease in methamphetamine use, while detoxification alone does not appear to do so.
Source: Addiction
Institutions: Australian National University, UNSW Sydney, National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, The University of Queensland, University of Newcastle Australia, Eastern Health, Monash University, Griffith University, The University of Adelaide, Flinders University, Curtin University, National Drug Research Institute
Language: English
Subfield: Epidemiology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1924347018