Research for heroin craving in methadone maintenance treatment

Objective:To study heroin craving of heroin addicts who accept methadone maintenance treatment (MMT).Methods:VAS (visual analog scale) is used to measure the level of craving among those patients in different period with different dose.We compare their difference with SPSS13.0.Results:There is significant difference of craving level before and after they accept MMT (P 0.01).Among the group who accepted MMT for 15 days,3 months,6 months and 12 months,there is no significant difference (P 0.05).There is significant difference (P 0.01) between the group with high compliance and low compliance.However,there is no difference between the group with different dose(P0.05).Conclusion:The degree of craving will be declined if they insist on accepting MMT,especially at the early period of treatment.The group with high compliance has less craving for heroin than the group with low compliance.And the dose may have less influence on craving for heroin.