Medication Plus Support Groups Increases Effectiveness of Opioid Use Disorder Treatment
MIE Associate Professor Muhammad Noor E Alam’s research, published in the International Journal of Medical Informatics, found that people in treatment for opioid addiction are 25% more likely to complete medication if they also attend a support group.
This article originally appeared on Northeastern Global News. It was published by Kate Rix. Main photo: Lead investigator Muhammad Noor E Alam, professor of mechanical engineering. “How can we use AI-based large-scale data analysis techniques to design better interventions?” Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University
Self-help groups boost success in opioid treatment, Northeastern research finds
In 2023, more than 84,000 people in the U.S. died from overdosing on opioids—everything from prescription painkillers to fentanyl to heroin.
That number declined in 2024, but the problem remains an epidemic, leading to over 81,000 deaths, according to the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics.
Many more people—an estimated 2.5 million people in the U.S.—live with an addiction to opioids. There are medications that can help treat addiction, but many who start treatment don’t stick with it.
But what about the patients who do complete treatment? What was different for them?
That’s what Northeastern University researchers wanted to know when they tackled a massive national dataset of patients with opioid use disorder.
Using artificial intelligence to narrow the data down to a manageable size, researchers found that when medication is combined with attendance at a support group, patients are over 25% more likely to finish opioid addiction treatment.
“We know that medical treatment is very effective, but we also know that if someone prematurely discontinues the treatment, this person is going to be very vulnerable to overdosing,” says Muhammad Noor E Alam, at Northeastern professor of mechanical engineering and the lead investigator on the study.
“Our analysis creates evidence from U.S. data that if someone is going to participate in a self-help group while they are in treatment, that person is more likely to complete treatment,” he says.
The study, published in the International Journal of Medical Informatics, was supported by Alam’s National Science Foundation CAREER award. Other authors include Gary Young, director of Northeastern’s Center for Health Policy and Healthcare Research; Sahil Shikalgar, a Northeastern industrial engineering PhD student; and Scott Weiner from Brigham and Women’s Hospital.