Title: Measuring quality of life among recipients of opioid agonist treatment-current update

INTRODUCTION: Opioid Agonist Treatment (OAT) is considered the most effective treatment for opioid dependence. Commonly the outcomes of OAT are measured on clinical and objective parameters like: reduction in illicit opioid use and others. With greater understanding of the chronic, relapsing nature of opioid dependence and need for long term treatment and the need of patients’ involvement in treatment, there is increasing focus on measuring outcome from patient’s perspective on like quality of life. METHODS: A Search in MEDLINE (Ovid), EMBASE (Ovid) was carried out using various combination of the following words: ‘agonist maintenance treatment’, ‘buprenorphine’, ‘methadone’, ‘opioid agonist treatment’, ‘quality of life’, ‘patient reported outcome’. All the literature available in English language was included for review. RESULT: Quality of life of opioid users at entry to treatment is significantly lower compared to the general population. It improves with opioid agonist treatment and consistent improvement is maintained over time. With the greater understanding of quality of life reflective of factors held important by the subjects (patient reported measures) maintained on agonist treatment for a longer duration, participatory approach for evaluation of QoL is increasingly being popular. The newer measurements are being developed commonly based on QOL model by Schalock & Verdugo (2002) which focusses on picking up the actual constructs contributing to the quality of life for a given population. Some newer constructs like personal development, self-determination, social inclusion, and rights are being included. CONCLUSION: There is a gradual shift in method of measuring quality of life for people under agonist maintenance treatment. There is a need for research in this regard from India and other South Asian countries. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: None