UCLA

Buprenorphine is an evidence-based treatment for opioid use disorder, but patient retention is typically low. This retrospective study used the MarketScan claim databases from 2015 to 2019 to examine patient retention in buprenorphine treatment over a two-year follow-up period. We included patients with OUD who started buprenorphine treatment after diagnosis and calculated the restricted mean time on buprenorphine and assessed retention probability under different definitions. Among 53,355 patients, the mean duration of buprenorphine use was 282.5 days (38.7% of the follow-up period). Under the strictest retention definition, only 29.5% of patients were still on buprenorphine after 180 days. The limited retention probability highlights the need for improved strategies for long-term buprenorphine use and provides insight into improving OUD treatment outcomes.