Einat Peles

Internet addiction is known to be associated with depression. The Internet Addiction Test (IAT) and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale (CES-D) for depression were studied among non-selective methadone maintenance treatment patients from the United States (n = 164) and Israel (n = 113). Thirty percent were not exposed to the internet, and 2.9% (n = 8) had an "occasional/frequent problem." The IAT and CES-D scores correlated significantly (p = .03). The non-exposed group was older, less educated, and had more benzodiazepine abusers. Unlike other behavioral addictions that characterized these patients, the internet addiction problem is rare, but should not be ignored.

Fifty-five former opioid addicts who have been methadone maintained patients for 10 or more years and whose urine has tested negative for drugs for 2 or more years were compared to 99 former opioid addicts who have been medication-free for 10 or more years. Groups were comparable in age and education, but the medication-free subjects were younger when having started opioids with more severe addiction scores. Methadone maintained patients presented with a higher proportion of psychiatric comorbidity and chronic pain. Their scores of perceived sleep quality and cognitive state were poorer than the medication-free individuals. Possible explanations of the differences are discussed in this article.

Objective: Patients in Israeli methadone maintenance treatment can achieve a maximum of 2 weeks of take-home dose (13-THD) privileges after at least 2 years since the achievement of 1-week privileges (6-THD). Patients who ever achieved 6-THD were characterized to predict achievement of 13-THD. Methods: All patients who ever achieved 6-THD and then achieved 13-THD were studied (December 2010–December 2012). Information on drugs in urine on admission, demographics, and addiction characteristics was retrieved from medical charts. Retention in treatment and duration with THD were calculated and analyzed by Kaplan-Meier and Cox model regression. Results: Fifty-five of the 161 patients who achieved 6-THD also achieved 13-THD. No benzodiazepine abuse on admission (odds ratio [OR] = 2.3, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.1-4.7), being Israeli-born (OR = 2.3, 95% CI: 1.1-5.2), and less than 12 years of education (OR = 2.8, 95% CI: 1.1-7.1) predicted the 13-THD achievers. The time to achieve 6-THD was shorter for the 13-THD patients than for the 106 who achieved only 6-THD (1.7 ± 1.5 vs 2.3 ± 2.0 years, P = 0.07). After losing THD privileges, the 13-THD group showed a worse outcome than the 6-THD group: 1 year after losing 6-THD (n = 92) or 13-THD (n = 27), 3.3% of the former left treatment versus 14.8% of the latter, whereas 83.7% versus 70.4%, respectively, succeeded in regaining any THD and 12.0% versus 14.8%, respectively, failed altogether. Conclusions: Patients who achieved 13-THD were characterized by more rapid progress in rehabilitation, but those who failed and lost 13-THD privileges were at a higher risk to deteriorate further than those who failed after achieving 6-THD.

After changing the weekend closure of our methadone maintenance clinic from 1 to 2 days, we compared patients' retention in treatment, discount payment privileges, take-home doses, and rate of drugs in urine tests during the 6 months before and after the change. No differences were found in the 6-month retention rate (94.6% and 95.4%, respectively), take-home dose privileges (60.9% and 58%, respectively), or the rate of urines positive to all substance abuse. Expanding closure of the clinic for a 2-day weekend had no adverse effect on treatment parameters, suggesting that a methadone maintenance clinic may keep the same hours as other hospital's outpatient clinics.

Compliance and impact of a time-limited brief intervention (BI) for reducing exposure to alcohol, psychoactive substances and nicotine among women admitted to the hospital during pregnancy were assessed. Pregnant women (gestational week ≤30) from a medical center pre-delivery, emergency and high-risk units were interviewed about alcohol (AUDIT and TWEAK questionnaires), smoking (modified Fagerström) and psychoactive substance (modified ASI). All exposed women were invited to participate in a BI and underwent follow-up. Characteristics and rate of exposure were compared to a "standard-group" of non-selected women who arrived to the hospital directly solely to give birth. Forty-six of the 108 study participants (42.6%) were exposed to smoking (85%), alcohol (41%), or drugs (39%), and 41 underwent the BI. Self-report of exposure was reduced significantly following BI but re-elevated post-delivery. Women belonging to the "standardgroup" were better educated, had lower lifetime rates of exposure, and gave birth to newborns with higher birth weights (3254.7±506.9 g vs. 2650.8±785.6 g for the study group). Compliance of the exposed women to BI was high and contributed to exposure reduction during pregnancy but relapsed following delivery.

Benzodiazepines (BDZs) abuse was found to cause diverse harmful effects among MMT patients. The current study evaluates prevalence rates of BDZ usage during 19.5 years in MMT, and its relation to patients' long-term retention in treatment. All 787 opiate addicts who were ever admitted to the Adelson MMT clinic in Tel Aviv between 1993 and 2012 were studied. Observed and random urine results for BDZs usage were taken a few times every month. Positive for BDZ was defined in each month if at least one of the urines tested positive. Long-term retention was studied using Kaplan Meier analyses. BDZ prevalence among the MMT patients (ranged from 26 patients in 1994, and 300 to 350 since 2009) was about 35-40% in the last few years, with a "peak" of 61% followed by low rate of 25.4%. Followed up for up to 19.5 years, those who were negative to BDZ upon admission to MMT stayed longer in treatment (mean 8.5y, 95% Confidence Interval [CI] 7.6-9.4) than those who were positive to BDZ when admitted (mean 6.9y, 95% CI 6.2-7.7) (Kaplan Meier analyses p=0.01). BDZs abuse is highly prevalent among MMT patients. Abuse of BDZ on entry to treatment predicts worse MMT outcome. High and low rates of BDZ abuse may also be attributed to staff tolerance of this abuse; thus, we strongly recommend a strict attitude by staff in order to reduce patients' harm.

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of childhood and adulthood attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and clinical obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) among adult patients in methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) and to characterize possible risk factors. Sampling and Methods: A random sample of 154 current MMT patients was studied for childhood ADHD (Wender Utah Rating Scale), current clinical OCD (Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale), lifetime trauma history and modified Addiction Severity Index for demographics, as well as any lifetime DSM-IV-TR psychiatric diagnosis. Results: Fifty-one patients (33.1%) had childhood ADHD, and more of this group currently had clinical OCD compared to patients who did not have childhood ADHD (55.3 vs. 30.1%). The two groups did not differ with regard to gender and age of admission to MMT. Logistic regression found that the childhood ADHD group had a higher risk of having OCD [odds ratio (OR) 3.8, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.6–8.8], more severe nicotine smoking (OR 1.4, 95% CI 1.1–1.7) and fewer years of education (OR 0.8, 95% CI 0.6–1) and were more likely to have a DSM-IV-TR axis II disorder (OR 4.3, 95% CI 1.4–13.4) and a history of falls (OR 4.3, 95% CI 1.4–12.9). Conclusions: Although ADHD is more prevalent among males in the general population, the rates in our MMT population were similar in each gender. One third of our sample had suffered from ADHD during childhood, which may have led them to self-medicate with drugs and thus to addiction. Childhood ADHD was associated with current OCD, and both conditions were highly prevalent among our MMT patients. The reason for a history of repeated falls warrants further study.