Opioid use disorder and type 2 diabetes mellitus: Effect of participation in buprenorphine-naloxone substitution programs on glycemic control.

OBJECTIVE: To measure the effect of buprenorphine-naloxone as opioid substitution therapy on glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and opioid use disorder. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study and secondary data analysis. SETTING: Northwestern Ontario. PARTICIPANTS: Patients with diabetes receiving opioid substitution therapy, as well as patients with diabetes only, who live in 6 remote First Nations communities. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Glycated hemoglobin A1c values during a 2-year time period in the 2 groups. RESULTS: Over a 2-year period, there was an absolute decrease of 1.20% in mean glycated hemoglobin A1c values in patients with diabetes who also received opioid substitution therapy, compared with patients with diabetes who were not being treated for opioid dependence, whose values rose by 0.02%. CONCLUSION: Patients with diabetes who also suffer from opioid use disorder achieve significant (P = .011) improvement in glycemic control when treated with buprenorphine-naloxone substitution therapy compared with other patients with diabetes. Treating opioid use disorder with buprenorphine-naloxone substitution therapy has an unintended positive effect on diabetes management.

Are women with psychosis receiving adequate cervical cancer screening?

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the rates of cervical cancer screening among female patients with psychosis compared with similar patients without psychosis, as an indicator of the quality of primary preventive health care. DESIGN: A retrospective cohort study using medical records between November 1, 2004, and November 1, 2007. SETTING: Two urban family medicine clinics associated with an academic hospital in Toronto, Ont. PARTICIPANTS: A random sample of female patients with and without psychosis between the ages of 20 and 69 years. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Number of Papanicolaou tests in a 3-year period. RESULTS: Charts for 51 female patients with psychosis and 118 female patients without psychosis were reviewed. Of those women with psychosis, 62.7% were diagnosed with schizophrenia, 19.6% with bipolar disorder, 17.6% with schizoaffective disorder, and 29.4% with other psychotic disorders. Women in both groups were similar in age, rate of comorbidities, and number of full physical examinations. Women with psychosis were significantly more likely to smoke (P < .0001), to have more primary care appointments (P = .035), and to miss appointments (P = .0002) than women without psychosis. After adjustment for age, other psychiatric illnesses, number of physical examinations, number of missed appointments, and having a gynecologist, women with psychosis were significantly less likely to have had a Pap test in the previous 3 years compared with women without psychosis (47.1% vs 73.7%, respectively; odds ratio 0.19, 95% confidence interval 0.06 to 0.58). CONCLUSION: Women with psychosis are more than 5 times less likely to receive adequate Pap screening compared with the general population despite their increased rates of smoking and increased number of primary care visits.