Out of nearly 230,000 teens and young adults on Medicaid who were diagnosed with opioid use disorder, only about 1 in 32 stayed on an addiction medication for six months or longer. The finding comes from a national study in JAMA Network Open led by researchers at Mass General Brigham, and it points to a steep drop-off at nearly every step between diagnosis and steady treatment.
The gap matters because overdose remains a serious threat to young people, and the study covered patients ages 13 to 25. Medications such as buprenorphine, methadone, and naltrexone are the standard of care for opioid use disorder, but they work best when patients keep taking them.
