Time-lagged association between counseling and/or 12-step attendance with subsequent opioid use in a secondary analysis from a randomized, clinical trial of medications for opioid use disorder.

Psychosocial support is recommended in conjunction with medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD), although optimal “dose,” modality, and timing of participation is not established. This study used data from CTN-0051 to examine counseling and 12-Step attendance and subsequent opioid use in a MOUD randomized clinical trial.

The parent study randomly assigned 570 participants to receive buprenorphine-naloxone (BUP-NX, n=287) or extended-release injectable naltrexone (XR-NTX, n=283). Mixed-effects logistic regression models were fit with opioid use as the response variable, and a counseling/12-Step attendance predictor. Differences by treatment assignment were examined.

Any counseling or 12-Step attendance was associated with reduced odds of opioid use at the subsequent visit, whether considered individually or aggregated across type. A continuous relationship was observed for 12-Step attendance (F(1,5083)=5.01, p=.025); with each additional hour associated with 13% (95% CI: 0.83, 0.90) reduction in odds of opioid use. The strength of this association grew over time. In the BUP-NX arm, group counseling was associated with a greater reduction in odds of opioid use than for XR-NTX, (OR=0.32 (95% CI: .22, 0.48) vs. OR=0.69 (95% CI: 0.43, 1.08)). For XR-NTX, 12-Step was associated with a greater reduction in odds of opioid use (OR=0.35 (95% CI: 0.22, 0.54) vs. OR=0.65 (95% CI: 0.47, 0.89) for BUP-NX)).

Conclusions: Psychosocial engagement has a proximal association with opioid use and the strength of that association may grow with dose and time. Alternatively, more motivated individuals may both attend more counseling/12-Step and have better treatment outcomes, or the relationship may be reciprocal. While the results of the present study suggest that when it comes to psychosocial support, “more is better,” the present findings also suggest that “any is better than none.” Future research could expand upon the present study by examining the contributions of different psychosocial treatment modalities to opioid use and relapse.

Related protocols: CTN-0051