Risk and Protective Factors of Current Opioid Use Among Youth Living on or Near American Indian Reservations: An Application of Machine Learning.

ABSTRACT: Opioid use among youth, particularly among American Indian (AI) youth, is rising, resulting in a large number of accidental overdoses and deaths. In order to develop effective prevention strategies, we need to use exploratory data analysis to identify previously unknown predictors of opioid use among youth living on or near reservations. The present study is an application of Machine Learning, a type of exploratory data analysis, to the Our Youth, Our Future epidemiological survey (N = 6482) to determine salient risk and protective factors for past 30-day opioid use. The Machine Learning algorithm identified 11 salient risk and protective factors. Importantly, highest risk was conferred for those reporting recent cocaine use, having ever tried a narcotic other than heroin, and ident

SUBMITTER: Prince MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8386181 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature