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Consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Mental Health of Patients in Opioid Substitution Treatment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2022

J. Rosenleitner ,
I. Fuchs-Leitner ,
N. Gerstgrasser  and
K. Yazdi
J. Rosenleitner*
Affiliation:
Kepler University Hospital Linz, Department Of Psychiatry - Specialization Addiction Medicine, Linz, Austria
I. Fuchs-Leitner
Affiliation:
Kepler University Hospital Linz, Department Of Psychiatry - Specialization Addiction Medicine, Linz, Austria
N. Gerstgrasser
Affiliation:
Kepler University Hospital Linz, Department Of Psychiatry - Specialization Addiction Medicine, Linz, Austria
K. Yazdi
Affiliation:
Kepler University Hospital Linz, Department Of Psychiatry - Specialization Addiction Medicine, Linz, Austria
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

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Introduction

The many negative consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic especially on vulnerable groups like patients suffering from drug addiction have been anticipated by experts early on. While drug consumption patterns of patients in opioid substitution treatment (OST, N=24) seemed hardly influenced at the early stage of the pandemic in Austria, the impact on the mental health of this population remained unclear.

Objectives

The main goal was to investigate long-term consequences of the pandemic in terms of PTSD and clinical symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress among patients in OST between December 2020 and February 2021.

Methods

In a cross-sectional survey study (N=123) an adapted version of the impact of event scale (IES-R) was applied to evaluate PTSD symptoms due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Clinical symptoms were assessed by the depression, anxiety and stress scale (DASS-21), and respective changes due to the pandemic were documented. Sociodemographic and COVID-19 related factors, as well as data on drug consumption patterns were collected.

Results

A binary logistic regression analysis confirmed the negative long-term consequences of psychological and economic COVID-19 related factors on a higher risk for PTSD due to the pandemic. The high-risk PTSD group also demonstrated higher levels and a deterioration of depression, anxiety and stress symptoms since the pandemic.

Conclusions

Among our sample of patients in OST, 27% were at risk of PTSD due to the pandemic, and 30 to 50% reported concerning levels of depression, anxiety and stress. Health care facilities might use these findings as a valuable source of information, when special attention is needed.

Disclosure

No significant relationships.

Keywords

DAS-21Covid-19Opioid Substitution Treatment (OST)PTSD
Type
Abstract
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 65 , Special Issue S1: Abstracts of the 30th European Congress of Psychiatry , June 2022 , pp. S378
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
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