Live Poster Session: https://wesleyan.zoom.us/j/94637918974
Jeremy Kofman
I’m a senior student at Wesleyan University from Toronto, Canada. I majored in Economics. I also played on the University’s Men’s Ice Hockey Team and on the club tennis team!
Abstract: This research analyzed the widespread problem of opioid misuse in the United States, which has become a major public health concern. While opioids can be prescribed by healthcare providers for pain management, their misuse can lead to addiction, overdose, and death. The current standard for diagnosing opioid use disorder (OUD) involves fulfilling two out of 11 criteria related to problematic patterns of opioid use. However, the study presented aims to assess whether low and high usage scores on an opioid usage frequency scale were equally likely to result in an OUD diagnosis. The results of chi-square analysis and logistic regression showed that those scoring low and high on the scale were not significantly different in terms of receiving OUD diagnoses. The study suggests the need for more precise diagnoses and potentially creating new categories in the DSM for varying levels of use to better target support programs and identify OUDs. The findings are in line with the US Food and Drug Administration’s goal of providing better tools and more efficient risk management for opioid addiction and misuse.
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