Mortality Associated With Time in and Out of Buprenorphine Treatment in French Office-Based General Practice: A 7-Year Cohort Study

In France, most cases of opioid use disorder are treated with buprenorphine by general practitioners in private practice. Using reimbursement data of a representative sample of the French population, Echantillon Généraliste des Bénéficiaires, we investigated mortality during periods when patients were in and out of treatment in a cohort of 713 new users of buprenorphine having a mean (SD) follow-up of 4.5 (1.5) years. The mortality rate was 0.63 per 100 person-years (95% CI, 0.40-0.85) overall. In a multivariate Cox regression model, compared with being in treatment, being out of treatment was associated with a markedly increased risk of death (hazard ratio = 29.04; 95% CI, 10.04-83.99). Buprenorphine appears to be a strong protective factor against mortality.