quality of life among drug-dependent and non-drug dependent individuals in iran

background: drug dependency is one of the most important issues in any society and it is among the most widespread health risk factors.objectives: this study was conducted to determine quality of life in drug- dependent individuals, who were under methadone treatment, and non-drug dependent persons in shahroud (northeast of iran).methods: in this comparative study, 266 drug dependent participants and 541 non-drug dependent participants were studied in 2014. the persian version of sf-36 quality of life questionnaire was used to collect data. the data were analyzed using chi square test, t test, and anova.results: the majority of the participants (77.1%) in both groups were male. the mean age of drug-dependent participants was 37.6 ±10.7, the mean duration of drug dependency was 12.0 ± 9.3 years, and the mean duration of treatment in methadone maintenance treatment centers (mmt) was 24.6 ± 22.6 months. no significant difference (p > 0.05) was observed between the 2 groups in any aspects of quality of life other than the vitality (p = 0.001).conclusions: in this study, quality of life scores were not significantly different between drug dependent and non-dependent par- ticipants. it seems that treatment with the use of methadone and buprenorphine can play a good role in improving quality of life of addicts.