Quality of Life among Patients undergoing Opioids Substitution Therapy in hospitals of Sikkim

Background: Extreme use of harmful substances can advance in deterioration of quality of life (QOL) among substance abusers. Opioid substitution therapy (OST) is the accessible alternative for long term treatment for substance use disorder (SUD) which is identified as an effectual agonist for maintaining the treatment. Aim: To assess the impact of OST on QOL of patient and potential association between QOL and variables. Methods: The samples were assessed using structured questionnaire which has two sections - Demographic Performa and OST profile. QOL was assessed by using WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire. Statistical analysis: The data was analyzed by using both descriptive and inferential statistics using SPSS (statistical package of social science) version 25 software. Result: The result showed that 4 patients (2.4%) had fair quality of life, 108(65.5%) had good quality of life, and 53(32.1%) had very good quality of life with an average mean 262.79 and SD 47.68. In physical domain 116 (70.3%) patients had good quality of life; in psychological domain 133(80.6%) patient had good quality of life; in social 72(43.6%) patients had good quality of life and in environment domain 108(65.6%) patients had good quality of life. There was significant association between quality of life with selected variables i.e. occupation(0.032), reasons for taking drug (0.04) how many year did you take drugs(0.001), and stay in rehabilitation centre(0.0016) at p (less than0.05) . Conclusion: Opioid substitution therapy was found to be effective in improving quality of life of the patient undergoing opioid substitution therapy.