Background & Objective: Drug abuse causes severe gastrointestinal,
neurological problems and dependency.
For maintenance therapy of opiate addiction, long-acting
opioids like methadone
are used. Since incorrect
use of methadone, leads to serious complications, this study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of methadone.
Materials & Methods: This cross-sectional study was done with a sample size of 151 patients in addiction treatment centers
Fasa Shariati Hospital, during 6 months.
After reviewing the cases of patients who were taking methadone for addiction and
completed their demographic information, check list of questions about the different
effects of methadone was completed for each
patient. The data
was statistically analyzed by Mann-Whitney
test.
Results: The average age of participants in the scheme was
31/71. The results showed that the most common side effects of methadone, is gastrointestinal complications (77/5 percent).
In addition, between the effects and duration of methadone there is a significant relationship. However, other effects
were not associated with duration of use.
Conclusion: According to the results, the need
for continuous follow-up of patients undergoing methadone treatment for drug
complications and such findings can even be transferred to the
relevant authorities, in order to
add assessment side
effects of treatment is necessary
in the case of
defined. The patients’ need to medication may
cause endurance of bothersome symptoms.
While it can affect
their quality of life