Cigarette smoking in subjects maintained with methadone or buprenorphine: The role of psychiatric symptoms and psychological distress

maintained with methadone or buprenorphine was studied. Methods: 1049 subjects with a diagnosis of heroin use disorder were enrolled. The Symptom Checklist-90- Revised (SCL-90-R) and the General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12) were administered. The analyses were run in the whole sample and stratified for substitution therapies. Results: In the whole sample as well as among subjects maintained with methadone, the number of cigarettes smoked daily was associated with SCL-90-R Global score (whole sample: p=0.001; ΔR2=0.012; subjects maintained with methadone: p≤0.001; ΔR2=0.019) and with GHQ-12 (whole sample: p=0.001; ΔR2=0.013; subjects maintained with methadone: p=0.01; ΔR2=0.010) while among subjects maintained with buprenorphine, the number of cigarettes smoked daily was associated with SCL-90-R Global score (p=0.05; ΔR2=0.020). Conclusion: Psychiatric symptoms were associated with the number of cigarettes smoked daily among subjects maintained with methadone and among those maintained with buprenorphine, thus deserving clinical attention.