Persisting high rates of mental health disorders in patients in opioid agonist treatment—Results from a 6‐year longitudinal study

Soyka, Michael ; Koller, Gabi ; Wittchen, Hans‐Ulrich und Bühringer, Gerhard (2025): Persisting high rates of mental health disorders in patients in opioid agonist treatment—Results from a 6‐year longitudinal study. In: American Journal on Addictions [Forthcoming]

Abstract

Background and Objectives: There are hardly any data from longitudinal studies on the prevalence of mental health disorders in patients in opioid agonist therapy (OAT).

Methods: Here we report prevalence rates of mental health disorders in a 6-year naturalistic noninterventional follow-up study of patients in OAT (N = 2694 at baseline).

Results: The number of participants without any psychiatric diagnosis only modestly increased from 36.7% to 42.2% (males 42.6%, females 47.6%) over a 6-year period. Depression (42%), anxiety disorders (19.3%), sleep disorders (21.3%), and posttraumatic stress disorder (13%) were most frequent. The rates for patients in psychiatric or psychological/psychotherapeutic treatment at baseline were rather low (8% resp. 8–12%) and declined over time (3.6% resp. 5.4%–6.8% after 6 years).

Conclusions and Scientific Significance: Data from this long-term study indicate an overall high persisting prevalence of mental health disorders in patients in OAT and a rather low number of patients in psychiatric/psychological treatment. Hence, this study indicates a substantial need for specific psychosocial and psychopharmacological interventions in patients in opioid agonist therapy.

• Item Type: Journal article
• Faculties: Medicine > Medical Center of the University of Munich > Clinic and Polyclinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy
• Subjects: 600 Technology > 610 Medicine and health
• ISSN: 1055-0496
• Annotation: Published online September 14, 2025
• Language: English
• DFG: Gefördert durch die Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - IIA2-2507DSM411