That Happened!

New York (That Happened!) - Teens addicted to opioids who received the continued treatment of the medication buprenorphine-naloxone combined with treatment, had a lower chance of using opioids in the future compared to adolescents who went through a short-term detox program using the same medication, according to a new study.

An opioid is a chemical substance that has a morphine-like action in the body. The main use is for pain relief. These agents work by binding to opioid receptors, which are found principally in the central nervous system and the gastrointestinal tract. The receptors in these two organ systems mediate both the beneficial effects, and the undesirable side effects. There are a number of broad classes of opioids:

“The usual treatment for opioid-addicted youth is short-term detoxification and individual or group therapy in residential or outpatient settings over weeks or months,” the authors wrote.

“Clinicians report that relapse is high, yet many programs remain strongly committed to this approach and, except for treating withdrawal, do not use agonist medication.”

For the study, researchers used 152 patients, aged 15 to 21 years. One group was given a a larger dose of the medication while another group was given a reduced dose. Both groups were weened off the drugs at different speeds.

The result was that the extended therapy group showed lower levels of opioids in their blood and urine.

“Taken together, these data show that stopping buprenorphine-naloxone had comparably negative effects in both groups, with effects occurring earlier and with somewhat greater severity in patients in the detox group,” the authors write.

The study is published in the November 5 issue of JAMA.