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Phone App May Help Treat Opioid Use Disorder, Data Suggests

By Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on Jan 2, 2025.

TUESDAY, Dec. 31, 2024 -- A smartphone app appears to help people battle opioid use disorder (OUD).

People with OUD had 35% fewer days of opioid use when they were handed the app alongside medications for opioid use disorder like methadone, buprenorphine and naltrexone, researchers note in a new study published recently in JAMA Network Open.

App users also remained in recovery nearly 19% longer than those who only got medication treatment for OUD, results show.

The app combines a type of evidence-based behavioral therapy called contingency management (CM), in which patients are given financial rewards for meeting treatment goals, along with medication for OUD and recovery support from peers.

“These findings suggest that augmenting medication for opioid use disorder with app-based contingency management may provide clinical benefits for underserved patients,” lead investigator Elise Marino, director of research operations at UT Health San Antonio’s Be Well Institute on Substance Use and Related Disorders, said in a news release from the hospital.

OUD costs the U.S. nearly $969 billion a year, researchers said in background notes.

Further, opioids were involved in about 76% of the nearly 108,000 drug overdose deaths that occurred in 2022, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Expanding the availability of app-based contingency management may contribute to decreasing the immense societal, economic and personal burden of opioid use,” Marino said.

Medications like methadone and buprenorphine are recognized as the only evidence-based treatment for OUD, researchers said.

However, some people still have trouble sticking with their recovery plan and abstaining from opioids, pointing to a need to augment the medications with some other type of support, researchers said.

Traditional contingency management (CM) is one such added form of support, but this therapy requires patients to come by a clinic multiple times a week to have their urine screened for drugs, researchers said.

The WEconnect Health CM smartphone app helps patients set and track daily goals that are personally meaningful, like attending a Narcotics Anonymous meeting, exercising, going for a walk, or reading.

Patients can earn up to $800 in incentives each year, in the form of digital gift cards from approved retailers, researchers said. These included department stores, bookstores, home improvement stores, restaurants, streaming services and rideshare apps.

The app also offers peer support and online meetings, researchers said.

For the study, researchers recruited 600 people with opioid use disorder. Half were assigned to medication alone, and the other half got medication and the CM app.

People with the app had an average 8 days of opioid use by the end of the year-long study, compared with 12 days for those who got medication only, results show.

App users also stayed with their opioid agonist therapy an average 290 days, compared with 236 days for those who only got medication, the study says.

“These results are promising, and they highlight the potential importance of a patient’s decision to use app-based CM,” the researchers concluded.

“Adding recovery-oriented, app-based CM may be one way to enhance clinical care and meet the growing needs of historically underserved patients taking MOUD [medication for opioid use disorder].”

Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Posted January 2025

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