Malik E, et al. - Given a high prevalence of comorbidity of depression among individuals with opioid addiction, researchers sought to determine their outcome in methadone maintenance treatment (MMT). They studied characteristics and outcomes (retention until December 2017) of newly admitted and already (5.5 ± 4 years) in MMT patients with available Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D) scores on admission. During psychiatric intake on admission, high depressive symptoms beyond the cutoff (HAM-D scores ≥ 18) were diagnosed in 70 (21.2%) of 330 patients. The depressed group displayed higher Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale scores (21.4 ± 8.6 vs 7.0 ± 7.3, respectively), was comprised of a higher proportion of minority (non-Jewish faith; 28.6% vs15.4%), and had a higher proportion of positive urine screening results for cocaine (55.7% vs 34.4%) and for benzodiazepines on admission (74.3% vs 57.5%). In the first-year retention in treatment, they observed similar succession among newly admitted depressed and nondepressed patients, despite their cocaine and benzodiazepine co-abuse. The depression was characterized with females and with rape history in those who were already in MMT. Depression was evident in 23.5% of the 263 evaluated while already in MMT, that was characterized with more females (43.5% vs 23.4%) and with a history of rape (34.5% vs 7.6%). Both depressed groups should receive adequate intervention to improve long-term retention and outcome.