Self-reported psychopathology and health-related quality of life in heroin users treated with methadone

Figures & data

Table 1 Characteristics of study population (n = 78)

	All (n = 78)	Healthy controls (n = 39)	Heroin users (n = 39)	Statistics
				χ^2	F	P value
Age (mean ± SD)	32.2 ± 6.0	31.2 ± 6.8	33.3 ± 4.8		2.638	0.106
Gender, n (%)
Male	60 (76.9)	27 (69.2)	33 (84.6)	2.6		0.107
Female	18 (23.1)	12 (30.8)	6 (15.4)
Education (%)
Senior high school and above	10 (12.8)	3 (7.7)	7 (17.9)	1.835		0.176
Junior high school and below	68 (87.2)	36 (92.3)	32 (82.1)
Marital status (%)
Unmarried or single	55 (70.5)	28 (71.8)	27 (69.2)	0.062		0.804
Married or cohabiting	23 (29.5)	11 (28.2)	12 (30.8)
BMI, kg/m^2 (±SD)	23.4 ± 3.6	23.8 ± 3.7	23.0 ± 3.5		0.059	0.361
Smoker (%)	47 (60.3)	8 (20.5)	39 (100.0)	51.447		<0.001
Drinker (%)	12 (15.4)	0 (0.0)	12 (30.8)	14.182		<0.001
Number of comorbid diseases (±SD)	0.55 ± 1.0	0.03 ± 0.2	1.08 ± 1.1		67.045	<0.001
HIV positivity (%)	5 (6.4)	0 (0.0)	5 (12.8)	5.342		0.021
Hepatitis B (%)	5 (6.4)	0 (0.0)	5 (12.8)	5.342		0.021
Hepatitis C (%)	13 (16.7)	0 (0.0)	13 (33.3)	15.6		<0.001
Onset of heroin use, years (±SD)			24.7 ± 5.6
Duration of heroin use, years (±SD)			8.6 ± 13.9
Last use of heroin, days (±SD)			75.0 ± 196.1
Expense of heroin use at last time, NTD (±SD)			1058.8 ± 384.6
Age at onset of methadone, year (±SD)			31.6 ± 5.2
Duration of methadone treatment, years (±SD)			1.3 ± 1.0
Last use of methadone, days (±SD)			0.5 ± 1.2
Current methadone dose, mg/day (±SD)			37.5 ± 21.5

Notes: n, number of cases; Single included divorced, separated, or widowed; drinker means subject has used alcohol in the last 4 weeks.

Abbreviations: BMI, body mass index; HIV, human immunodeficiency virus; SD, standard deviation.

Table 2 Comparisons of Brief Symptom Rating Scale scores and health-related quality of life between heroin users and healthy controls (n = 78)

	All (n = 78)	Healthy controls (n = 39)	Heroin users (n = 39)	Statistics
				T	P value
BSRS scores (±SD)
Somatization	2.4 ± 2.9	1.6 ± 1.7	3.2 ± 3.5	15.465	0.018
Obsession	1.5 ± 2.0	1.2 ± 1.5	1.9 ± 2.3	5.064	0.109
Interpersonal sensitivity	1.3 ± 1.7	1.0 ± 1.5	1.6 ± 1.8	1.892	0.117
Hostility	1.3 ± 2.0	0.7 ± 1.4	1.8 ± 2.4	6.771	0.016
Depression	2.5 ± 2.8	1.6 ± 2.2	3.3 ± 3.2	7.187	0.008
Anxiety	2.5 ± 3.2	1.6 ± 2.2	3.4 ± 3.8	11.18	0.013
Phobia	1.2 ± 2.1	0.6 ± 1.2	1.8 ± 2.5	12.558	0.014
Paranoid	1.3 ± 1.6	0.9 ± 1.6	1.7 ± 1.6	0.096	0.045
Addition	1.7 ± 1.8	0.9 ± 1.3	2.4 ± 2.0	7.366	<0.001
General symptom severity index	16.9 ± 18.9	11.2 ± 13.1	22.7 ± 22.1	6.159	0.007
Positive symptom total number	11.2 ± 9.6	8.0 ± 7.8	14.4 ± 10.1	4.751	0.003
Positive symptom distress index	1.2 ± 0.6	1.1 ± 0.5	1.2 ± 0.7	2.07	0.566
WHOQOL (±SD)
Physical domain	62.8 ± 17.6	71.0 ± 13.6	54.6 ± 17.4	3.477	<0.001
Psychological domain	54.4 ± 22.4	62.9 ± 17.2	46.0 ± 23.9	2.840	0.001
Social domain	59.0 ± 19.8	65.1 ± 17.2	52.9 ± 20.5	0.450	0.006
Environmental domain	59.3 ± 19.3	68.5 ± 13.8	50.0 ± 19.6	6.049	<0.001
EQ-5D scores (±SD)
EQ-TTO	0.9 ± 0.2	0.9 (±0.2)	0.8 (±0.1)	0.136	0.182
EQ-VAS	74.0 ± 16.4	81.0 (±11.6)	67.0 (±17.6)	6.043	<0.001

Note: n, number of cases.

Abbreviations: BSRS, Brief Symptom Rating Scale; SD, standard deviation; EQ-TTO, EuroQoL-5D time-trade-off score; EQ-VAS, EuroQoL-5D score on visual analog scale.

Table 3 Correlates of health-related quality of life among heroin users treated with methadone (n = 39)

	WHO-QOL domains				EuroQol scores
	Physical domain	Psychological domain	Social domain	Environmental domain	TTO	VAS
Age	−0.256	−0.268	−0.254	−0.100	−0.085	−0.376*
Gender, female (0), male (1)	−0.096	0.000	−0.047	−0.095	0.391*	−0.094
Education, junior high school and below (0), above (1)	0.387*	0.286	0.252	0.259	0.297	0.154
Marital status, unmarried, divorced, separated, widowed (0), married or cohabiting (1)	0.027	0.015	0.197	0.077	−0.008	0.202
BMI, kg/m^2	0.180	0.184	−0.036	0.076	0.312	0.071
Smoker, no (0), yes (1)	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Drinker, no (0), yes (1)	−0.190	−0.190	−0.266	−0.121	−0.025	−0.182
Number of comorbid diseases	−0.273	−0.197	−0.068	−0.161	−0.383*	−0.213
HIV positivity, no (0), yes (1)	−0.211	−0.156	−0.078	−0.166	0.007	−0.053
Hepatitis B, no (0), yes (1)	−0.295	−0.276	−0.033	−0.123	−0.198	−0.133
Hepatitis C, no (0), yes (1)	−0.143	−0.032	0.051	0.042	−0.348*	−0.097
Onset of heroin use, years	−0.003	−0.172	−0.037	0.007	−0.204	−0.302
Duration of heroin use, years	0.049	0.110	−0.068	0.110	0.069	−0.026
Last use of heroin, days	0.344*	0.315	0.169	0.347*	−0.025	0.294
Expense of heroin use at last time, NTD	0.002	0.136	−0.137	0.079	0.100	−0.107
Age at onset of methadone, year	−0.214	−0.284	−0.270	−0.124	−0.084	−0.333*
Duration of methadone treatment, years	−0.142	−0.015	−0.026	0.128	−0.105	0.131
Last use of methadone, days	−0.118	−0.139	−0.160	−0.072	−0.186	−0.223
Current methadone dose, mg/day	0.025	0.146	0.034	0.065	0.005	0.017
BSRS scores
Somatization	−0.415**	−0.372*	−0.305	−0.271	−0.541***	−0.291
Obsession	−0.405*	−0.387*	−0.349*	−0.385*	−0.271	−0.208
Interpersonal sensitivity	−0.385*	−0.483**	−0.281	−0.439**	−0.498**	−0.146
Hostility	−0.417**	−0.441**	−0.314	−0.331*	−0.554***	−0.183
Depression	−0.509**	−0.492**	−0.356*	−0.442**	−0.542***	−0.349*
Anxiety	−0.519**	−0.482**	−0.381*	−0.459**	−0.550***	−0.306
Phobia	−0.368*	−0.449**	−0.333*	−0.384*	−0.395*	−0.183
Paranoid	−0.484**	−0.465**	−0.356*	−0.506**	−0.443**	−0.233
Addition	−0.523**	−0.485**	−0.450**	−0.334*	−0.611***	−0.417**

Notes:

* P < 0.05;

** P < 0.01;

*** P < 0.001. Drinker means the subject has used alcohol in the last 4 weeks.

Abbreviations: BMI, body mass index; BSRS, Brief Symptom Rating Scale; EQ-TTO, EuroQoL-5D time-trade-off score; EQ-VAS, EuroQoL-5D score on visual analog scale; NTD, New Taiwan dollars.

Table 4 Predictors of health-related quality of life among heroin users treated with methadone (n = 39)

	WHO-QOL domain scores				EuroQol-5D scores
	Physical domain	Psychological domain	Social domain	Environmental domain	TTO	VAS
	R^2 = 0.362	R^2 = 0.324	R^2 = 0.170	R^2 = 0.207	R^2 = 0.323	R^2 = 0.207
BSRS scores	Standardized coefficient (β)
Depression	n/a	−0.577***	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Anxiety	−0.291*	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Paranoid	n/a	n/a	n/a	−0.466***	n/a	n/a
Addition	−0.378**	n/a	−0.426***	n/a	−0.576***	−0.466***

Notes:

* P < 0.05;

** P < 0.01;

*** P < 0.001.

Abbreviations: BSRS, Brief Symptom Rating Scale; TTO, time-trade-off score; VAS, visual analog scale score; n/a, not available.