https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3176-6039
Abstract
Purpose
Extended-release buprenorphine (XR-BUP) covers a range of formulations of buprenorphine-based treatments for opioid use disorder (OUD) that release the medication over a period of one week, one month, or six months. OUD is particularly prevalent among incarcerated populations, and previous findings have shown that incarcerated subjects were not less interested in XR-BUP than non-incarcerated subjects. However, no study has ever investigated whether the factors of interest in XR-BUP were similar in incarcerated and non-incarcerated populations.
Patients and Methods
We carried out post-hoc analyses using data from the “AMBRE” survey, which was conducted among 366 individuals with OUD, that were recruited in 68 French addiction settings, including six prison medical centers. The reasons for interest in XR-BUP were compared between incarcerated and non-incarcerated interviewees, using logistic regressions models, which provided raw and adjusted odds ratios (aORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). Adjustment variables were gender, age category, level of education, and type of current medication for OUD, respectively.
Results
Data from 317 participants (ie, 221 non-incarcerated, and 96 incarcerated individuals) were included in the analyses. Adjusted comparisons found that “no longer taking a daily treatment” (aOR= 2.91; 95% CI= 1.21–6.98) and “having a more discreet medication” (aOR= 1.76; 95% CI= 1.01–3.10) were reasons that appealed more to incarcerated participants than to non-incarcerated ones. On the other hand, the potential reduction of withdrawal symptoms (aOR= 0.54; 95% CI= 0.29–0.99) or the risk of misuse (aOR= 0.56; 95% CI= 0.34–0.94) associated with XR-BUP treatment were considered more important by non-incarcerated individuals than by incarcerated ones.
Conclusion
Incarcerated interviewees were interested in XR-BUP for different reasons than those outside prison. In particular, incarcerated patients were more interested in practicability and discretion features, and less in improving recovery or reducing misuse than non-incarcerated patients.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank the survey participants, as well as the investigators who recruited them. They also thank the “KAPPA Santé” team, the CRO that implemented the study and collected the data, as well as Émeline Bréniaux for her help in editing the manuscript for English.
Disclosure
This study was sponsored by Camurus. Camurus contributed to the study design and analysis plan; Camurus played no role in collection of data, nor in the analysis of the manuscript. PH and MK (from Camurus) participated in the discussion and interpretation of the results.
BR received fees for lectures and consultancy from Camurus, Individor, Recordati, and Ethypharm, Accord Health, Lundbeck, HAC Pharma, AbbVie, and Gilead. BT received fees for consultancy from Camurus. JB, GB, and FM received fees for lectures or consultancy from Camurus and Indivior. MK and PH are employed by Camurus, France, and Camurus, Sweden, respectively. FM received fees for lectures or consultancy from Camurus and Indivior. PN received fees for lectures or consultancy from Camurus. GB received fees for lectures or consultancy from Camurus and Indivior. PB reports personal fees from Camurus for Albatros and Encephale congress invitation and financial indemnisation for participation to Ambre study as investigator, during the conduct of the study; Financial indemnisation for Webinar as speaker on “screen addiction” from Ethypharm, outside the submitted work. The authors report no other conflicts of interest in this work.