Project proposal for the Data Incubator. Exploratory data analysis on data around the Opioid Epidemics.
Opioids are substances that act as powerful painkillers, and are therefore commonly prescribed in the treatment of pain following surgery. However, they also produce euphoria and are therefore highly addictive. Well-known examples of opioids include morphine and heroin.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, over the past 15 years, the number of opioid-related overdose deaths has more than quadrupled. Over 30,000 people die of overdose involving opioids every year, and surpassed the number of fatalities due to firearms.
One of the main factors of this is prescription of opiates have also skyrocketed and quadrupled over the past 15 years. Unnecessary prescriptions have very harmful consequences as patients not needing opiates run the risk of becoming addicted or may be tempted to sell their refills for a significant profit, contributing to the supply of illegal drug markets.
Therefore, part of the issue can be better understood by analyzing the root causes of those two problems: over prescription and black market. To analyze the first one, the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services provides information on prescription drugs prescribed by individual physicians in its Part D Prescriber file, including data such as specialty and credentials. This has already led to interesting preliminary results on prescription patterns.
In the second phase of this project, understanding the dynamics of the black market is a more intricate question, but combining the previous information and findings with socio economic data may help derive meaningful insights.
Death rates by overdose involving opioids by State: https://acomets.github.io/opioid-crisis/map.html
Opioid prescriptions vs. Total prescriptions by clinician specialty and credentials: https://acomets.github.io/opioid-crisis/facet.jpg
- Medicare Provider Utilization and Payment Data: Prescriber Part D https://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Statistics-Trends-and-Reports/Medicare-Provider-Charge-Data/Part-D-Prescriber.html
- CDC 2015 Drug Overdose Deaths https://data.world/cdc/2015-drug-overdose-deaths