Detection of Spatiotemporal Prescription Opioid Hot Spots With Network Scan Statistics: Multistate Analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Overuse and misuse of prescription opioids have become significant public health burdens in the United States. About 11.5 million people are estimated to have misused prescription opioids for nonmedical purposes in 2016. This has led to a significant number of drug overdose deaths in the United States. Previous studies have examined spatiotemporal clusters of opioid misuse, but they have been restricted to circular shaped regions.

Objective

The goal of this study was to identify spatiotemporal hot spots of opioid users and opioid prescription claims using Medicare data.

Methods

We examined spatiotemporal clusters with significantly higher number of beneficiaries and rate of prescriptions for opioids using Medicare payment data from the Centers for Medicare & Me

SUBMITTER: Basak A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6601258 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature