{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,9]],"date-time":"2026-03-09T19:52:55Z","timestamp":1773085975124,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":59,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,9]],"date-time":"2026-03-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1773014400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Psychiatry"],"abstract":"\n Introduction<\/jats:title>\n Opioid use disorder (OUD) represents a major challenge in addiction care, yet empirical insights into the sociodemographic, clinical, and care-related profiles of help-seekers remain limited. Understanding these profiles is essential for developing targeted care strategies. This study therefore aims to identify and describe latent classes of help-seekers with OUD and outline their specific needs.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Methods<\/jats:title>\n Latent Class Analysis was applied to routinely collected person-level data from the 2023 Berlin Addiction Care Statistical Service to identify latent classes of outpatient help-seekers with OUD. Comorbid substance use disorders (SUDs) and injection drug use served as indicators. Classes were compared across sociodemographic, clinical, and care-related variables using Bonferroni-adjusted \u03c7\u00b2-tests.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Results<\/jats:title>\n \n Among 2,833 help-seekers, three latent classes were identified:\n Individuals Primarily Using Opioids<\/jats:italic>\n (n = 1,381),\n Individuals with Multiple SUDs<\/jats:italic>\n (n = 709), and\n Individuals Who Inject Drugs<\/jats:italic>\n (n = 743).\n Individuals Primarily Using Opioids<\/jats:italic>\n did not exhibit clearly distinctive patterns of service utilization and disproportionately reported methadone or other opioids as their main substances of use.\n Individuals with Multiple SUDs<\/jats:italic>\n were characterized by high social stability (e.g., partnerships, independent living) and a high enrolment in opioid agonist treatment (OAT).\n Individuals Who Inject Drugs<\/jats:italic>\n were marked by heightened vulnerability, including precarious housing and elevated rates of HIV and hepatitis C and primarily accessed low-threshold services.\n <\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Discussion and conclusion<\/jats:title>\n \n The results highlight the heterogeneity of help-seekers with OUD and emphasize the need for targeted, class-specific care strategies.\n Individuals Primarily Using Opioids<\/jats:italic>\n warrant further investigation, as this class may still comprise heterogeneous subgroups with diverse care needs.\n Individuals with Multiple SUDs<\/jats:italic>\n may benefit from more flexible OAT frameworks that accommodate work and family responsibilities. For\n Individuals Who Inject Drugs<\/jats:italic>\n , integrated health and social services, combined with expanded harm reduction efforts (e.g., syringe exchange, testing opportunities for infectious diseases), may help reduce access barriers and effectively address their complex needs.\n <\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyt.2026.1753193","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,9]],"date-time":"2026-03-09T11:18:46Z","timestamp":1773055126000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Who are we reaching? Identifying subgroups among individuals seeking help for opioid use disorder"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Carla","family":"Fa\u00dfbender","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"IFT Institut f\u00fcr Therapieforschung, Centre for Mental Health and Addiction Research","place":["Munich, Germany"]},{"name":"Institute for Medical Information Processing, Biometry, and Epidemiology (IBE), Ludwig-Maximilians-University","place":["Munich, Germany"]},{"name":"Pettenkofer School of Public Health, Ludwig-Maximilians-University","place":["Munich, Germany"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Carlotta","family":"Riemerschmid","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"IFT Institut f\u00fcr Therapieforschung, Centre for Mental Health and Addiction Research","place":["Munich, Germany"]},{"name":"Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, LMU University Hospital, LMU Munich","place":["Munich, Germany"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Monika","family":"Murawski","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"IFT Institut f\u00fcr Therapieforschung, Centre for Mental Health and Addiction Research","place":["Munich, Germany"]},{"name":"Bavarian Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians","place":["Munich, Germany"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ursula","family":"Berger","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute for Medical Information Processing, Biometry, and Epidemiology (IBE), Ludwig-Maximilians-University","place":["Munich, Germany"]},{"name":"Pettenkofer School of Public Health, Ludwig-Maximilians-University","place":["Munich, Germany"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Eva","family":"Hoch","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"IFT Institut f\u00fcr Therapieforschung, Centre for Mental Health and Addiction Research","place":["Munich, Germany"]},{"name":"Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, LMU University Hospital, LMU Munich","place":["Munich, Germany"]},{"name":"Division of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Charlotte-Fresenius-University","place":["Munich, Germany"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Larissa","family":"Schwarzkopf","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"IFT Institut f\u00fcr Therapieforschung, Centre for Mental Health and Addiction Research","place":["Munich, Germany"]},{"name":"Institute for Medical Information Processing, Biometry, and Epidemiology (IBE), Ludwig-Maximilians-University","place":["Munich, Germany"]},{"name":"Pettenkofer School of Public Health, Ludwig-Maximilians-University","place":["Munich, Germany"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/s0140-6736(19)32229-9","article-title":"Global patterns of opioid use and dependence: harms to populations, interventions, and future action","volume":"394","author":"Degenhardt","year":"2019","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e0221153","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0221153","article-title":"Opioid prescription patterns in Germany and the global opioid epidemic: Systematic review of available evidence","volume":"14","author":"Rosner","year":"2019","journal-title":"PloS One"},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3389\/fphar.2025.1669269","article-title":"Trend analysis and future projections of global burden of opioid use disorder (OUD) from 1990 to 2030","volume":"16","author":"Jiang","year":"2025","journal-title":"Front Pharmacol"},{"key":"B4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e32","DOI":"10.1017\/s2045796025100085","article-title":"Global, regional, and national trends and burden of opioid use disorder in individuals aged 15 years and above: 1990 to 2021 and projections to 2040","volume":"34","author":"Wang","year":"2025","journal-title":"Epidemiol Psychiatr Sci"},{"key":"B5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jadohealth.2024.12.015","article-title":"Global, regional, and national epidemiology of opioid use disorder among adolescents and young adults 1990\u20132019","volume":"76","author":"Han","year":"2025","journal-title":"J Adolesc Health"},{"key":"B6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.eclinm.2023.102079","article-title":"Evolving trends in drug overdose mortality in the USA from 2000 to 2020: an age-period-cohort analysis","volume":"61","author":"Fujita-Imazu","year":"2023","journal-title":"EClinicalMedicine"},{"key":"B7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e47","DOI":"10.1192\/j.eurpsy.2021.2219","article-title":"Is Europe facing an opioid crisis like the United States? 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