Retention and illicit drug use among methadone patients in Israel: A gender comparison

Objectives: To examine gender differences or similarities regarding the retention rate in the course of a 13-month treatment and in long-term retention up to 14 years among 2683 patients treated in eight (of 10) methadone maintenance clinics located in communities in Israel. Methods: The study is based on a computerized set of data on 2683 (331 female and 2352 male) patients older than 18 years of age (mean age=43.30 SD=8.53) who underwent treatment in one of eight methadone maintenance programs in Israel sometimes (or all the time) between January 1, 1991 and October 30, 2005. Results: 79.6% of the patients had a 100% retention rate in the 13-month time slot examined. The survival curves for the long-term retention show that retention in treatment was similar for both female and male patients. However, long-term retention is higher among female patients aged 31-40. Conclusion: It is premature to conclude that there are no gender differences in retention since there seem to be different profiles of female patients, characterized by different retention rates, as implied by the great variability in the females' retention behavior found in the regression analysis. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.