COVID-19 Pandemic Detrimentally Affects Craving and Quality of Life in Patients Under Medication-Assisted Treatment with Buprenorphine and Methadone: The Issue of Medication Dose

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic crisis has increased the vulnerability and decreased the retention in treatment of patients receiving medication-assisted treatment (MAT). Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on craving and quality of life (QoL) of MAT patients and to reveal the potential role of medication dose. Thus, 562 volunteers were divided into the control group (n = 100) comprising healthy volunteers without prior contact with substances of abuse, and into the experimental group (n = 462), which included patients receiving MAT, who were stratified into sub-groups of patients under methadone and buprenorphine. The groups were further divided into two sub-groups, based on whether the participants were infected by SARS-CoV-2 or not. The heroin craving questionnaire (HCQ), and the Nottingham health profile (NHP) instrument were used for craving assessment and QoL evaluation respectively. The MAT patients who were infected by SARS-CoV-2 had higher levels of craving compared to their non-infected counterparts, and COVID-19 restriction measures reduced QoL mainly of non-infected MAT patients. Furthermore, low craving and high QoL were largely associated with medium or low medication dose. It appears that focused interventions and modifications to medication doses could lead to better clinical outcomes of the MAT programs and relapse prevention.