Smartphone app can help reduce opioid use: Researchers

New York: A smartphone app can help patients with opioid use disorder reduce their days of opioid use and stay in treatment longer, according to new research.

The study by the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio) in the US showed that those who chose to use the smartphone app – which combines contingency management behavioural therapy and recovery support from peers – and alongside medication, reduced their days of opioid use by 35 per cent compared with those treated with medication only.

Additionally, app users remained in treatment nearly 19 per cent longer than those treated with medication alone, said the study published in JAMA Network Open.

“These findings suggest that augmenting medication for opioid use disorder with app-based contingency management may provide clinical benefits for underserved patients,” said Elise Marino, director of research operations at UT Health San Antonio’s Be Well Institute on Substance Use and Related Disorders.

The ‘WEconnect Health CM’ smartphone app delivers evidence-based contingency management (CM) embedded in a recovery-oriented framework.

The study cohort included 600 individuals aged 18 years or older who were uninsured or underinsured.

Those who chose to receive Medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) plus app-based CM reported a mean duration of 8.4 days of opioid use at the end of treatment compared with 12 days for those who chose to receive MOUD only.

Retention analysis showed that patients who chose to receive MOUD plus app-based CM stayed with their treatment for a mean duration of 290.2 days, compared with 236.1 days for those choosing to receive MOUD only.

“These results are promising, and they highlight the potential importance of a patient’s decision to use app-based CM,” the researchers said.

“Expanding the availability of app-based contingency management may contribute to decreasing the immense societal, economic and personal burden of opioid use,” added Marino.

IANS