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Boston – A recent study estimates that more than 275,000 people – or 4.6 percent of people over the age of 11 in Massachusetts – have opioid use disorder. Led by researchers at the Boston Medical Center, the study involved an analysis of several public health data sets, allowing for a more accurate picture of the impact of opioids in the state. Published online in the American Journal of Public HealthThe results indicate that better surveillance systems need to be more widely available and more accurate.
Traditional methods to estimate the prevalence of those who have interacted with the health care system, which are included in both state and national records. However, for those who do not encounter the system and perhaps overdose, they would not be included in any estimates. Individuals with substance use disorders are less likely to seek medical care or be insured. In addition, when they are asked about their subjects, they usually do not consider self-reporting for many reasons, including stigma.
"There are many people with opioid disorders who do not encounter the health care system," said Joshua Barocas, MD, an infectious disease physician at BMC who led the epidemic. study. For this study, the researchers investigated the Massachusetts Public Health Data Warehouse, a comprehensive database that links data from 16 state agencies to a comprehensive analysis of health care system utilization and fatal and non-fatal opioid overdoses rates. Through a capture-recapture analysis, the researchers were able to determine which of the following conditions were used.
According to the results, in 2011 and 2012, the prevalence of opioid use disorder in Massachusetts was 2.72 percent and 2.87 percent, respectively. That increased to 3.87 percent in 2013, and even more, to 4.6 percent in 2015. Surprisingly, those between the ages of 11 and 25 experienced the greatest increase in prevalence of all age groups. The number of "known" persons increased throughout the period – from 63.989 in 2011 to 75.431 in 2012, and 93.878 in 2013 to 119.160 in 2015.
The data was also released by county, and counties with rural populations, including: Barnstable (5.03 percent); Berkshire (6.06 percent); Bristol (5.81 percent); Hampden (5.34 percent); and Worcester (4.38 percent). For Suffolk County, which includes Boston, the prevalence in 2015 was 3.36 percent.
"Added to the Barocas, Assistant Professor of Public Health" Boston University School of Medicine. "The information from the databases can be expanded to include an understanding of the epidemic epidemic, which includes
The researchers note that while fentanyl is likely to be the cause of overdose in Massachusetts, the prevalence of opioid use is likely to increase. They also highlight that, given the clinical complexity of opioid use disorder, better surveillance can help increase the accuracy of diagnosis and treatment of disease. HIV or hepatitis C virus, where a blood test can be used to diagnose a patient.
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