Buprenorphine vs methadone for opioid assisted withdrawal

Buprenorphine and methadone for opioid assisted withdrawal was found in a systematic review (Gowing et al., 2017, 27 RCTs, N = 3 048) to be equally effective in treatment outcomes and no difference between the two medications was detected in terms of:

• completion rates (RR 1.04, 95% CI 0.91 to 1.20, RCTs = 5; N = 457, moderate quality)
• average treatment duration (MD 1.30 days, 95% CI −8.11 to 10.72, RCTs = 2, N = 82, low quality)