Optimizing retention strategies for opioid use disorder pharmacotherapy: The retention phase of the CTN-0100 trial (RDD).

Introduction And Background: The three medications approved to address OUD are effective in decreasing opioid use and morbidity and mortality; however, their utility is limited by high rates of dropout from treatment. The CTN-0100 trial will develop an evidence base for strategies to improve retention on buprenorphine and extended-release naltrexone.

Research Design And Methods: The National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network (CTN) study CTN-0100, "Optimizing Retention, Duration and Discontinuation Strategies for Opioid Use Disorder Pharmacotherapy" (RDD), is a multicenter, randomized, non-blinded trial enrolling more than a thousand patients from 18 community-based substance use disorder treatment programs.

Readiness to implement contingency management to promote PrEP initiation and adherence among people who inject drugs: results from a multi-site implementation survey.

Background: Contingency management (CM), an incentive-based intervention to encourage target behaviors, effectively promotes medication adherence. However, efforts to extend CM to HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) have been lacking. As part of a randomized clinical trial to promote HIV Prevention among people who inject drugs (PWID), we examined the readiness of staff in community-based organizations serving PWID to implement CM for PrEP uptake and adherence in this population.

Impact of alcohol use disorder on inpatient hospitalizations: A comparison of outcomes between urban and rural Veterans Affairs hospitals.

Background: Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality that disproportionately affects rural residents and Veterans.

Objective: To evaluate the burden of AUD in admissions at rural and urban hospitals within the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) comparing patient characteristics, clinical outcomes, and 1-, 3-, and 5-year mortality rates.

Methods: Retrospective cross-sectional study of patients admitted to VHA hospitals from 2016 to 2020, with a primary or secondary diagnosis related to AUD.

Couple-Focused Smartphone Intervention to Reduce Problem Drinking: Pilot Randomized Control Trial.

Background: Alcohol use disorder is among the most pervasive substance use disorders in the United States, with a lifetime prevalence of 30%. Recommended treatment options include evidence-based behavioral interventions; smartphone-based interventions confer a number of benefits such as portability, continuous access, and stigma avoidance; and research suggests that interventions involving couples may outperform those for patients only. In this context, a behavioral intervention delivered to couples through smartphones may serve as an effective adjunct to alcohol use disorder treatment.