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OMT National Patient Register (NorCOMT)

The project has followed patients in and out of medication-assisted rehabilitation to better understand how patient pathways unfold over time.

About the project

There is a fairly significant proportion of individuals who discontinue opioid maintenance treatment (OMT) treatment, even though the majority find themselves comfortable.

This study aims to shed light on factors that may predict dropouts from treatment and thereby find measures to better support patients in continuing with OMT.

The study also aims to explore outcomes such as quality of life and establishment of social networks as a result of OMT treatment, subjects that have been little focused on previously.

A comparison group of similar dependent patients starting non-medication residential treatment has been established.

The NorComt project has included over 700 individuals, approximately 550 new patients at treatment initiation and around 150 who have been in OMT for at least three years.

The project follows the development over time. Data at treatment initiation were collected in the period 2012-2014, while follow-up data collection one year after inclusion was completed in the spring of 2016.

In addition, the project has registry linkages with the cause-of-death registry,  medication registry, and the Norwegian patient registry.

A new project, AgeSUD, has started as an expansion of NorComt, with a focus on aging among substance use disorder patients.

NorCOMT has resulted in 3 PhD theses:

Ashley Muller, Quality of life, social networks, and substance abuse treatment: The NorCOMT project (2017)

Ingeborg Skjærvø, Substance use and crime: Characteristics of victim and offender roles in a longitudinal study of patients entering substance use treatment (2018)

Kristine Abel, Mental distress and ADHD symptoms among individuals in Opioid Maintenance Treatment (2018)

Selected publications

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and self-control

Co-morbidity/Co-occurrence

Criminality

Lifestyle factors

Quality of life

Published Oct. 23, 2012 2:09 PM - Last modified Mar. 19, 2024 10:32 AM