Many correlates of poor quality of life among substance users entering treatment are not addiction-specific

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Abstract

Background

Quality of life (QoL) is an important measure and outcome within chronic disease management and treatment, including substance use disorders (SUD). The aim of this paper was to investigate correlates of poorer QoL of individuals entering SUD treatment in Norway, in order to identify subgroups that may most benefit from different interventions.

Methods

Twenty-one treatment facilities invited all incoming patients to participate. Five hundred forty-nine patients who enrolled between December 2012 and April 2015 are analyzed. QoL, substance use, mental and physical comorbidities, and exercise behaviors were measured. Multinomial regression analysis was used to determine variables significantly associated with poorer QoL.

Results

The majority of both genders (75 %) reported “poor” or “very poor” QoL at intake. Depression showed a strong association with poor QoL (relative risk ratio [RRR] 3.3, 95 % confidence interval [CI] 1.0–10.3) and very poor QoL (RRR 3.8, 1.2–11.8) among women. Physical inactivity among men was associated with very poor QoL (RRR 2.0, 1.1–3.7), as was reporting eating most meals alone (RRR 2.6, 1.4–4.8). Evaluating one’s weight as too low was also associated with poor QoL (RRR 2.0, 1.0-3.9) and very poor QoL (RRR 2.0, 1.1–3.7) among men. Consuming methadone/buprenorphine was a protective factor for men reporting poor QoL (RRR 0.5, 0.3–0.9) and very poor QoL (RRR 0.4, 0.2–0.9), as well as for women reporting very poor QoL (RRR 0.2, 0.0–0.6).

Conclusions

Factors associated with poorer QoL among other healthy and clinical populations, such as impaired social and physical well-being and psychological distress, were also seen associated in this sample. Treatment should be targeted towards patients with these particular vulnerabilities in addition to focusing on substance-related factors, and interventions proven to improve the QoL of other populations with these vulnerabilities should be explored in a SUD context.

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Most cited references 41

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The effects of drug dependence on social systems has helped shape the generally held view that drug dependence is primarily a social problem, not a health problem. In turn, medical approaches to prevention and treatment are lacking. We examined evidence that drug (including alcohol) dependence is a chronic medical illness. A literature review compared the diagnoses, heritability, etiology (genetic and environmental factors), pathophysiology, and response to treatments (adherence and relapse) of drug dependence vs type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and asthma. Genetic heritability, personal choice, and environmental factors are comparably involved in the etiology and course of all of these disorders. Drug dependence produces significant and lasting changes in brain chemistry and function. Effective medications are available for treating nicotine, alcohol, and opiate dependence but not stimulant or marijuana dependence. Medication adherence and relapse rates are similar across these illnesses. Drug dependence generally has been treated as if it were an acute illness. Review results suggest that long-term care strategies of medication management and continued monitoring produce lasting benefits. Drug dependence should be insured, treated, and evaluated like other chronic illnesses. JAMA. 2000;284:1689-1695.

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Health-related quality of life associated with chronic conditions in eight countries: results from the International Quality of Life Assessment (IQOLA) Project.

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Few studies and no international comparisons have examined the impact of multiple chronic conditions on populations using a comprehensive health-related quality of life (HRQL) questionnaire. The impact of common chronic conditions on HRQL among the general populations of eight countries was assessed. Cross-sectional mail and interview surveys were conducted. Sample representatives of the adult general population of eight countries (Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Norway and the United States) were evaluated. Sample sizes ranged from 2031 to 4084. Self-reported prevalence of chronic conditions (including allergies, arthritis, congestive heart failure, chronic lung disease, hypertension, diabetes, and ischemic heart disease), sociodemographic data and the SF-36 Health Survey were obtained. The SF-36 scale and summary scores were estimated for individuals with and without selected chronic conditions and compared across countries using multivariate linear regression analyses. Adjustments were made for age, gender, marital status, education and the mode of SF-36 administration. More than half (55.1%) of the pooled sample reported at least one chronic condition, and 30.2% had more than one. Hypertension, allergies and arthritis were the most frequently reported conditions. The effect of ischemic heart disease on many of the physical health scales was noteworthy, as was the impact of diabetes on general health, or arthritis on bodily pain scale scores. Arthritis, chronic lung disease and congestive heart failure were the conditions with a higher impact on SF-36 physical summary score, whereas for hypertension and allergies, HRQL impact was low (comparing with a typical person without chronic conditions, deviation scores were around -4 points for the first group and -1 for the second). Differences between chronic conditions in terms of their impact on SF-36 mental summary score were low (deviation scores ranged between -1 and -2). Arthritis has the highest HRQL impact in the general population of the countries studied due to the combination of a high deviation score on physical scales and a high frequency. Impact of chronic conditions on HRQL was similar roughly across countries, despite important variation in prevalence. The use of HRQL measures such as the SF-36 should be useful to better characterize the global burden of disease.

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Influences of socioeconomic status, social network, and competence on subjective well-being in later life: a meta-analysis.

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Meta-analysis is used to synthesize findings from 286 empirical studies on the association of socioeconomic status (SES), social network, and competence with subjective well-being (SWB) in the elderly. All three aspects of life circumstances are positively associated with SWB. Income is correlated more strongly with well-being than is education. The quality of social contacts shows stronger associations with SWB than does the quantity of social contacts. Whereas having contact with friends is more strongly related to SWB than having contact with adult children, there are higher associations between life satisfaction and quality of contact with adult children when compared with quality of friendships. Moderating influences of gender and age on the effects of SES, social network, and competence on SWB are also investigated.

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Author and article information

Contributors

Ashley E. Muller:

ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7819-6697

+47 23368976 , ashley.muller@medisin.uio.no

Svetlana Skurtveit: svetlana.skurtveit@medisin.uio.no

Thomas Clausen: thomas.clausen@medisin.uio.no

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Health Qual Life Outcomes

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Health Qual Life Outcomes

Title: Health and Quality of Life Outcomes

Publisher: BioMed Central (London )

ISSN (Electronic): 1477-7525

Publication date (Electronic): 3 March 2016

Publication date PMC-release: 3 March 2016

Publication date Collection: 2016

Volume: 14

Electronic Location Identifier: 39

Affiliations

[ ]Norwegian Centre for Addiction Research, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Postbox 1171 Blindern, 0318 Oslo, Norway

[ ]Department of Pharmacoepidemiology, Division of Epidemiology, The Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway

[ ]Addiction Unit, Sørlandet Hospital HF, Kristiansand, Norway

[ ]Fulbright Scholar (2014-15), Alcohol Research Group (ARG), Emeryville, CA USA

Author information

Ashley E. Muller http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7819-6697

Article

Publisher ID: 439

DOI: 10.1186/s12955-016-0439-1

PMC ID: 4778354

PubMed ID: 26940259

SO-VID: 4405dce3-edf7-49fe-91b3-3e0ea7dced0f

License:

Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

History

Date received : 12 December 2015

Date accepted : 25 February 2016

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ScienceOpen disciplines: Health & Social care

Keywords: substance use disorder,quality of life,exercise,social support,physical well-being

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ScienceOpen disciplines: Health & Social care

Keywords: substance use disorder, quality of life, exercise, social support, physical well-being

Many correlates of poor quality of life among substance users entering treatment are not addiction-specific

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Asian Journal of Quality of Life (AjQoL)

Most cited references 41

Drug dependence, a chronic medical illness: implications for treatment, insurance, and outcomes evaluation.

Health-related quality of life associated with chronic conditions in eight countries: results from the International Quality of Life Assessment (IQOLA) Project.

Influences of socioeconomic status, social network, and competence on subjective well-being in later life: a meta-analysis.

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