Outcomes of patients with opioid use disorders seen at the Groote Schuur Hospital Addictions Clinic from 2014 to 2020
type: CreativeWork
description: BACKGROUND: The 2019 World Drug Report estimates an increased rate of non-medical use of opioids globally. A significant amount of this is attributable to the use of heroin. This rising trend is of particular concern in South Africa, a country which holds a background of high prevalence rates of blood borne infections such as HIV and Hepatitis C. Despite existing evidence for positive outcomes of Opioid Substitution Treatment (OST) in international and local studies, its use remains limited in South Africa, where medications suitable for use as OST are only listed in the Essential Medicines List for detox and not long-term maintenance treatment. METHODS: This study was a retrospective, descriptive study conducted at the Groote Schuur Hospital addictions clinic, a tertiary academic hospital in the Western Cape. Data was extracted from a total of 45 folders meeting inclusion criteria for this study and analysed using the SPSS software package. Descriptive statistics (frequencies, mean, and median) were used to examine the distribution of all socio-demographic, substance use, within-treatment, and treatment outcome variables. Chi-square tests were used to explore associations between sociodemographic, substance use, factors at baseline and the treatment outcomes of interest (abstinence and remission from OUD). For each outcome of interest, variables associated with the outcome at p<0.1 were entered into multiple logistic regression models. This purposeful method of selecting covariates to enter the models is widely used and recommended for researchers interested in identifying factors associated with an outcome and not just predicting the effects of a single covariate. The intention of these logistic regression analyses was to explore whether variables associated with the outcome of interest in bivariate analyses remained significantly associated with the outcome when adjusting for the presence of other variables associated with the outcome. RESULTS: The majority of pa…
abstract: BACKGROUND: The 2019 World Drug Report estimates an increased rate of non-medical use of opioids globally. A significant amount of this is attributable to the use of heroin. This rising trend is of particular concern in South Africa, a country which holds a background of high prevalence rates of blood borne infections such as HIV and Hepatitis C. Despite existing evidence for positive outcomes of Opioid Substitution Treatment (OST) in international and local studies, its use remains limited in South Africa, where medications suitable for use as OST are only listed in the Essential Medicines List for detox and not long-term maintenance treatment. METHODS: This study was a retrospective, descriptive study conducted at the Groote Schuur Hospital addictions clinic, a tertiary academic hospital in the Western Cape. Data was extracted from a total of 45 folders meeting inclusion criteria for this study and analysed using the SPSS software package. Descriptive statistics (frequencies, mean, and median) were used to examine the distribution of all socio-demographic, substance use, within-treatment, and treatment outcome variables. Chi-square tests were used to explore associations between sociodemographic, substance use, factors at baseline and the treatment outcomes of interest (abstinence and remission from OUD). For each outcome of interest, variables associated with the outcome at p<0.1 were entered into multiple logistic regression models. This purposeful method of selecting covariates to enter the models is widely used and recommended for researchers interested in identifying factors associated with an outcome and not just predicting the effects of a single covariate. The intention of these logistic regression analyses was to explore whether variables associated with the outcome of interest in bivariate analyses remained significantly associated with the outcome when adjusting for the presence of other variables associated with the outcome. RESULTS: The majority of pa…
author: Kadenge, Betty
keywords: Psychiatry and Mental Health
date published: 2023
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:22:47Z
provider: University of Cape Town
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/39572