Adding Mobile App to Medication for OUD May Improve Outcomes

TOPLINE:

Augmenting medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) with smartphone app–based contingency management (CM) was associated with a 30% reduction in opioid use days and a 23% improvement in treatment retention compared with treatment with MOUD alone, a new study suggests.

METHODOLOGY:

• This retrospective cohort study analyzed the data collected from opioid treatment programs and office-based opioid treatment programs across Texas from 2020 to 2023.
• Investigators used matched control sampling to create groups similar in size and age, sex, race, and ethnicity.
• A total of 600 uninsured or underinsured adults (mean age, 38 years; 57% men; 95% White) were included, of whom 300 chose to receive MOUD alone and 300 chose to receive MOUD plus CM via the WEconnect app.
• The primary outcomes were the number of self-reported days of opioid use at the end of treatment and retention rates.

TAKEAWAY:

• After multivariable adjustment, patients choosing MOUD plus app-based CM reported significantly fewer days of opioid use at the end of treatment than those choosing MOUD alone (mean duration, 8.4 days vs 12.0 days; P
• Treatment retention was significantly higher in the MOUD plus app-based CM group than in the MOUD-only group (mean duration, 290.2 days vs 236.1 days; P

IN PRACTICE:

“As a virtual treatment, app-based CM has fewer infrastructure barriers to implementation and should provide opportunities for rapid dissemination to patients,” the investigators wrote. “Despite the challenges of engaging patients in other app-based interventions, adding recovery-oriented, app-based CM may be one way to enhance clinical care and meet the growing needs of historically underserved patients taking MOUD,” they further added.

SOURCE:

The study was led by Elise N. Marino, PhD, Be Well Institute on Substance Use and Related Disorders, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. It was published online on December 2 in JAMA Network Open.

LIMITATIONS:

Because CM was offered as part of standard clinical care, patients were not randomly assigned to treatment conditions, potentially introducing selection bias. Additionally, variations existed among clinicians in their effectiveness at introducing and engaging patients with the app. The study’s generalizability may be limited as a majority of participants identified as White.

DISCLOSURES:

This study was supported by Texas Targeted Opioid Response and grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. One author reported receiving grants from KIOS/Biomedical Development Corporation outside the submitted work.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.