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Correlation between high methadone doses and methadone serum levels in methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) patients
Miriam Adelson1, Einat Peles, Gershon Bodner
1Tel-Aviv Elias Sourasky Medical Center, 6, Weizman St, Tel-Aviv, Israel.
Aims:
To evaluate the relation between high methadone doses and methadone serum levels in MMT patients.
Design:
One hundred fifty-one steady methadone-dose patients were evaluated for methadone serum levels using GCMS. Urine samples during the month prior to the study-day were analysed and defined as positive if any sample was positive for any drug.
Findings:
Methadone dose correlated with methadone serum levels (Pearson R = 0.36, P < 0.0005). In 53 patients with no drug abuse, correlation was stronger (R = 0.53, P < 0.0005) than in 98 patients with any drug abuse (R = 0.25, P = 0.01).
Conclusions:
We extended the well-established correlation between methadone doses and serum levels in patients receiving low or moderate (60 to 120 mg/day) to high methadone doses (up to 290 mg/day).
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