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In France, high-dosage buprenorphine (HDB) is the main substitution treatment for narcotic addiction. Few data have been published concerning clinical factors predicting a good response to this treatment in a daily practice. A hospital-based multicenter clinical research program (PHRC) was undertaken in heroin-addicted patients, diagnosed according to DSM-III-R, to detect clinical criteria susceptible of predicting a good response to HDB administered during a 3-month treatment period. At the inclusion time in the study, a diagnostic structured interview (DIGS) was performed, and the Addiction Severity Index (ASI), Zuckerman scale, depression scale from Jouvent, and CGI were scored. MMPI was also administered. Good response was defined as an ongoing participation in the study, with absence of opiate detected in 75% of urine collected during the last month of treatment. Only subjects treated for at least 1 month were eligible for analyses. One hundred fifteen patients were recruited and 73 were analyzed. Patients received 8.5+/-2.6 mg (m+/-S.D.) of buprenorphine for 1 to 3 months. A forward stepwise logistic regression showed that six clinical parameters may predict a good response to treatment: probability to respond to buprenorphine was higher in subjects having a high psychopathology (ASI) subscore, low disinhibition and boredom susceptibility factor scores (Zuckerman scale), no alcohol dependence, no family history of addiction or mood disorder, and duration of opiate dependence less than 10 years. Only the MMPI D subscale was a psychological pattern correlated to a good response to substitution treatment. These findings are important to consider when making the decision to prescribe HDB substitution treatment in opiate addiction.

Objective: Buprenorphine has a partial morphine-agonist pharmacological profile. It is proposed as alternative to methadone in opiate drug addicts with greater safety of use and less cost in terms of public health. The aim of this study was to determine the clinical factors of response to this molecule., Method: The study was conducted in 73 patients treated for 3 months with adaptable doses. Mean dose was 8.5 mg/d (range: 3 to 16 mg/d). Response to treatment was defined as: still in the study at 3 months and absence of opiates in 75% of urinary samples over the past month., Results: Forty-eight patients responded and 25 did not. The determinating clinical variables of response were: opiate drug addiction less than 10 years, high score on the Addiction Severity Index (ASI), absence of depression according to the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and low rate of disinhibition on Zukerman's sensation seeking scale. Conversely, the dose of buprenorphine within the limits specified in the Marketing Authorisation did not intervene in the response., Conclusion: In view of its partial agonist effect, administration of buprenorphine must be reserved for patients addicted to opiates for less than 10 years, non-depressive and with low disinhibition on Zukerman's scale.

In 1974, rapid cycling bipolar disorder has been defined by Dunner and Fieve as four or more episodes of depression or mania per year. Twenty year later, this definition appeared for the first line in an international classification of mental disorders in the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The rapid cycling phenomenon has been since studied with new adapted modified criteria taking into account different duration of affective episodes which characterise rapid cycling. Rapid cycling is associated with a low prophylactic efficacy of lithium and often represents a difficult approach for the clinician. Clinical aspects, influence of antidepressants associated with acceleration of cycles and possible therapeutic trials including non pharmaceutical treatment are discussed.