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Russell C, Lange S, Kouyoumdjian F, Butler A, Ali F. Opioid agonist treatment take-home doses ('carries'): Are current guidelines resulting in low treatment coverage among high-risk populations in Canada and the USA? Harm Reduct J 2022; 19:89. [PMID: 35948961 PMCID: PMC9363267 DOI: 10.1186/s12954-022-00671-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2022] [Accepted: 08/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Opioid agonist treatment (OAT) is the primary intervention for opioid use disorder (OUD) in Canada and the USA. Yet, a number of barriers contribute to sub-optimal treatment uptake and retention, including daily-supervised medication administration. Thus, clients are eventually granted access to take-home OAT doses (i.e., ‘carries’) to reduce this burden. However, this decision is based on physician discretion and whether patients can demonstrate stability in various life domains, many of which are inextricably linked to the social determinants of health (SDOH). Current Canadian and USA OAT carry guidance documents are not standardized and do not take the SDOH into consideration, resulting in the potential for inequitable access to OAT carries, which may be the case particularly among marginalized populations such as individuals with OUD who have been released from custody. This perspective article posits that current OAT guidelines contribute to inequities in access to OAT carries, and that these inequities likely result in disproportionately low coverage for OUD treatment among some high-risk groups, including individuals on release from incarceration in particular. Relevant impacts of COVID-19 and related policy changes are considered, and suggestions and recommendations to amend current OAT guidance documents are provided.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cayley Russell
- Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), 33 Ursula Franklin St, Toronto, ON, M5S 2S1, Canada. .,Ontario Node, Canadian Research Initiative in Substance Misuse (CRISM), 33 Ursula Franklin St, ON, M5S 2S1, Toronto, Canada.
| | - Shannon Lange
- Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), 33 Ursula Franklin St, Toronto, ON, M5S 2S1, Canada.,Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), ON, Toronto, Canada.,Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Fiona Kouyoumdjian
- Department of Family Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.,Centre for Urban Health Solutions, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Amanda Butler
- Department of Family Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
| | - Farihah Ali
- Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), 33 Ursula Franklin St, Toronto, ON, M5S 2S1, Canada.,Ontario Node, Canadian Research Initiative in Substance Misuse (CRISM), 33 Ursula Franklin St, ON, M5S 2S1, Toronto, Canada
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