Systematic Literature Review on Buprenorphine/naloxone Use in Outpatient Opioid Dependence Treatment

Objective: Summarize the literature on buprenorphine/ naloxone for outpatient treatment of opioid dependence disorder. Methods: a literature of EMBASE and Medline 2000-2014 using the terms "naloxone + buprenorphine" and "opioid-related disorders". Results: Over two hundred articles were retrieved. Seventeen studies were ultimately selected and reviewed for study quality, using Downs and Black's 1998 checklist, the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care levels of evidence and study outcome analysis. Conclusion: Buprenorphine/naloxone appears to be a safe, effective treatment modality for treatment of opioid dependence. As a recently introduced medication in North America, clinicians are slow to fully embrace it use. It provides an opportunity to more widely provide opioid substitution therapy in primary care settings.