Evaluating the impact of community-based treatment options on methamphetamine use: findings from the Methamphetamine Treatment Evaluation Study (MATES)

To evaluate the impact of community-based drug treatment on methamphetamine use using inverse-probability-of-treatment weighted (IPTW) estimators to derive treatment effects.

A longitudinal prospective cohort study with follow-ups at 3 months, 1 year and 3 years. Treatment effects were derived by comparing groups at follow-up. IPTW estimators were used to adjust for pre-treatment differences between groups.

Sydney and Brisbane, Australia.

Participants were methamphetamine users entering community-based detoxification (n = 112) or residential rehabilitation (n = 248) services and a quasi-control group of methamphetamine users (n = 101) recruited from the community.

Frequency of methamphetamine use between interviews (no use, less than weekly, 1-2 days per week, 3+ days per week), continuous abstinence from methamphetamine use, past month methamphetamine use, and methamphetamine dependence.

Detoxification did not reduce methamphetamine use at any follow-up relative to the quasi-control group. Relative to quasi-control and detoxification groups combined, residential rehabilitation produced large reductions in the frequency of methamphetamine use at 3 months (OR = 0.23, 95% CI 0.15-0.36, p < 0.001), with a marked attenuation of this effect at 1 year (OR 0.62, 95% CI 0.40-0.97, p = 0.038) and 3 years (OR = 0.71 95% CI 0.42-1.19, p = 0.189). The greatest impact was for abstinence: for every 100 residential rehabilitation clients there was a gain of 33 being continuously abstinent at 3 months, with this falling to 14 at 1 year and 6 at 3 years.

Community-based residential rehabilitation may produce a time-limited decrease in methamphetamine use, while detoxification alone does not appear to do so.