Exploring potential moderators of depressive symptoms and treatment outcomes among patients with opioid use disorder.

BACKGROUND

Depressive symptoms are common in patients seeking medication treatment for opioid use disorder (MOUD treatment) and decrease quality of life but have been inconsistently related to opioid treatment outcomes. Here, we explore whether depressive symptoms may only be related to adverse treatment outcomes among individuals reporting high opioid use-related coping motives (i.e., use of opioids to change affective states) and high trait impulsivity, two common treatment targets.

METHODS

Patients seeking MOUD treatment (N = 118) completed several questionnaires within two weeks of their treatment intake. Treatment outcomes (opioid-positive urine screens and days retained in treatment) were extracted from treatment records. Moderation analyses controlling for demographic characteristics and main effects were conducted to explore interaction effects between depressive symptoms and two distinct moderators.

RESULTS

Depressive symptoms were only related to opioid use during early treatment among patients reporting high opioid use-related coping motives (B = 2.67, p =.004) and patients reporting high trait impulsivity (B = 2.01, p =.039). Further, depressive symptoms were only inversely related to days retained among individuals with high opioid use-related coping motives (B = -10.12, p =.003).

CONCLUSIONS

Individuals presenting to treatment with opioid-related coping motives and/or impulsivity in the context of depressive symptoms may confer unique risk for adverse treatment outcomes. Clinicians may wish to consider these additive risk factors when developing their treatment plan.