College of Kentucky researchers are creating an revolutionary statewide surveillance system to tell prevention and response efforts geared toward lowering the burden of opioid use dysfunction in Kentucky.
The Fast Actionable Knowledge for Opioid Response in Kentucky (RADOR-KY) will use knowledge from federal, state, and native sources to information evidence-based practices geared toward stopping opioid overdoses within the Commonwealth. Part one of many venture is supported by a three-year $3.1 million grant from the Nationwide Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).
Pushed by the COVID-19 pandemic and illegally manufactured fentanyl, drug overdose deaths within the US elevated to historic ranges in 2021. Kentucky has been hit laborious by the opioid epidemic. Overdose deaths reached an all-time excessive of two,250, with 90% of these deaths involving an opioid.
Co-led by Svetla Slavova, Ph.D., affiliate professor within the Faculty of Public Well being, and Jeff Talbert, Ph.D., professor within the Faculty of Medication and Faculty of Pharmacy, RADOR-KY will use a complete set of information wanted to successfully monitor and reply to the quickly evolving opioid overdose disaster.
The system will use superior algorithms to quickly course of knowledge and assist predict potential overdose surges utilizing synthetic intelligence.
“This distinctive, first-of-its-kind system is not going to solely monitor and monitor overdose instances however use predictive analytics and dashboards for quick dissemination of analytical outcomes to maintain state companies and native stakeholders on the frontlines of the opioid epidemic in Kentucky a step forward,” stated Slavova, who additionally serves as interim affiliate dean for analysis within the Faculty of Public Well being.
RADOR-KY will use knowledge from a number of sources, together with the Kentucky Workplace of Important Statistics, syndromic surveillance, emergency medical providers, prescription drug monitoring, Medicaid claims and drug seizure data. It’ll additionally monitor measures associated to evidence-based practices similar to remedy for opioid use dysfunction, overdose training and the distribution of naloxone, a life-saving remedy that quickly reverses an opioid overdose.
The venture will leverage the experience of UK analysis facilities together with the Kentucky Harm Prevention and Analysis Middle, the Middle on Drug and Alcohol Analysis, and the Institute for Biomedical Informatics. It additionally builds upon the experience and expertise gained from UK’s work on the HEALing Communities Research (HCS).
“We have harnessed the ability of our knowledge processing capabilities at UK with the framework and expertise gained from our work on the HEALing Communities Research, which has additionally proven that addressing this public well being disaster requires working throughout disciplines,” stated Talbert, who additionally directs the Institute for Biomedical Informatics.
“The HEALing Communities Research has been an instance of how a state and a college can work collectively and one of many deciding elements for receiving this award,” stated
HCS principal investigator Sharon Walsh, Ph.D., a professor in UK’s Faculty of Medication and Faculty of Pharmacy and director for the Middle on Drug and Alcohol Analysis.
Walsh leads the venture’s substance use dysfunction workforce, which can advise on the content material of evidence-based practices and state and native companions who’re finish customers of the system.
Katherine Marks, Ph.D., a UK Faculty of Medication analysis assistant professor who serves as venture director for the Kentucky Opioid Response Effort (KORE) throughout the Cupboard for Well being and Household Companies, is the venture’s state authorities liaison.
Marks says RADOR-KY’s quicker knowledge processing, predictive analytics and inclusion of evidence-based practices will assist the state take extra strategic motion.
“The chance for state and neighborhood companions to have available entry to knowledge so we will take motion and consider how we’re doing in our response is a outstanding innovation,” stated Marks. “This can be a fantastic demonstration of the collaborative potential between the state and college experience. It is also yet one more instance of how UK is working because the College for Kentucky.”
An end-user advisory group, together with companions in state authorities and native communities, may even information the event of RADOR-KY. To advance the efforts to mitigate the opioid epidemic throughout the US the workforce additionally plans to share programming code and algorithms in a public repository.
