Umeå University's logo

Background: There is an international opioid crisis. From 1999-2016, more than 350,000 people died from an overdose involving an opioid. Drug-related deaths in Sweden have been rising over the last decade. During 2006, the number of drug-related deaths in Sweden was 7.4 per 100,000 people, while in 2016 the number was 11.2 per 100,000 people. Drug rehabilitation interventions in Sweden often take place in the municipality in collaboration with the hospitals. Interventions at municipality levels can aim to improve health, but in many cases, the aim of the intervention is much broader and has a ripple effect on the individual’s life and well-being. A common utility measurement is QALYs, which only capture the health-related quality of life.

Objective: The objective of the study is to calculate the cost-effectiveness of medication-assisted therapy (MAT) from a societal perspective; the cost of the program, the savings made, and the life quality gains in terms of capability-adjusted life-years (CALYs).

Method: A cost-effectiveness analysis is performed of medical-assisted treatment for 30-year-old male opioid addicts in Sweden using a lifetime perspective with CALYs as an outcome measure.

Results: The estimated CALY gain is 25.5 from the MAT intervention and the cost-effective analysis of the MAT program resulted in a negative ICER, showing that the intervention is cost-saving compared to the alternative of doing nothing.

Conclusion: The main finding is that the MAT program is highly cost-effective—the MAT program gives a higher CALY gain and is less costly than the alternative of doing nothing.