Self-reported adverse experiences and age of opioid onset for first time admitted to opioid maintenance treatment

Background: Patients in opioid maintenance treatment might differ significantly on major life events, coping resources and living conditions. Aim: This study investigated patients’ sociodemographic characteristics before first admission to opioid maintenance treatment, focusing on adverse experiences and their influence on age of opioid onset. Methods: Forty-seven participants were recruited from eight opioid maintenance treatment units in Bergen, Norway. Retrospective data on demographics, external potential adverse experiences and patients’ history of drug use were collected using the National Quality Register for Substance Abuse Treatment. A Cox regression survival analysis was conducted to examine potential differences in sociodemographic characteristics compared to age of opioid onset and adverse experiences. Results: The mean age of opioid onset was 22.6 years (SD = 6.80). No significant differences between recruited patients were found for sociodemographic factors such as marital status, education level, living situation, parenthood and crime. Age of opioid onset use was strongly associated with being in care (b = 0.87), family members that were or had been in prison (b = 0.83) and drop-out from school (b = 0.77). The participants’ adverse experiences varied in number, with a mean exposure of 8.1 (SD = 4.0). Conclusions: Patients in this study had been exposed to many adverse experiences, yet these variated in both type and number. There was substantial variation in age of opioid onset. When new patients are enrolled in treatment, clinicians should consider this heterogeneity. It can be of importance in opioid maintenance treatment to distinguish between patients according to their number of adverse experiences