CONTEXT

There is concern that exposure therapy, an evidence-based cognitive-behavioral treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), may be inappropriate because of risk of relapse for patients with co-occurring substance dependence.

OBJECTIVE

To determine whether an integrated treatment for PTSD and substance dependence, Concurrent Treatment of PTSD and Substance Use Disorders Using Prolonged Exposure (COPE), can achieve greater reductions in PTSD and substance dependence symptom severity compared with usual treatment for substance dependence.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Randomized controlled trial enrolling 103 participants who met DSM-IV-TR criteria for both PTSD and substance dependence. Participants were recruited from 2007-2009 in Sydney, Australia; outcomes were assessed at 9 months postbaseline, with interim measures collected at 6 weeks and 3 months postbaseline.

INTERVENTIONS

Participants were randomized to receive COPE plus usual treatment (n = 55) or usual treatment alone (control) (n = 48). COPE consists of 13 individual 90-minute sessions (ie, 19.5 hours) with a clinical psychologist.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Change in PTSD symptom severity as measured by the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS; scale range, 0-240) and change in severity of substance dependence as measured by the number of dependence criteria met according to the Composite International Diagnostic Interview version 3.0 (CIDI; range, 0-7), from baseline to 9-month follow-up. A change of 15 points on the CAPS scale and 1 dependence criterion on the CIDI were considered clinically significant.

RESULTS

From baseline to 9-month follow-up, significant reductions in PTSD symptom severity were found for both the treatment group (mean difference, -38.24 [95% CI, -47.93 to -28.54]) and the control group (mean difference, -22.14 [95% CI, -30.33 to -13.95]); however, the treatment group demonstrated a significantly greater reduction in PTSD symptom severity (mean difference, -16.09 [95% CI, -29.00 to -3.19]). No significant between-group difference was found in relation to improvement in severity of substance dependence (0.43 vs 0.52; incidence rate ratio, 0.85 [95% CI, 0.60 to 1.21), nor were there any significant between-group differences in relation to changes in substance use, depression, or anxiety.

CONCLUSION

Among patients with PTSD and substance dependence, the combined use of COPE plus usual treatment, compared with usual treatment alone, resulted in improvement in PTSD symptom severity without an increase in severity of substance dependence.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

isrctn.org Identifier: ISRCTN12908171.