Untreated opioid use disorders also contribute to a return to criminal activity, reincarceration, and some behaviors associated with increased incidence of hepatitis B and C and HIV infections.
Accessing evidence-based medications and other critical resources for opioid use disorder (MOUD) is critical to saving lives and healing communities, yet little is known on how access to these resources is best measured. The University of Chicago is conducting a geospatial modeling study to measure optimal distance and access (e.g., availability, affordability, and acceptability) to MOUD and relevant resources to identify a threshold of success that contributes to health outcomes. The study uses spatial analysis data and mapping software to identify what critical resources are needed at a community level to support individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD).
Study Settings: Treatment/Healthcare Settings
Study Team
PI: Marynia Kolak
• Expand and compare access metrics for MOUD and harm reduction sites to determine the “best known” form of measuring access with a comprehensive literature review and meta-analysis
• Identify, visualize, and characterize areas in Illinois with low access to resources essential to persons impacted by OUD in justice settings in a resource gap analysis
• Associate areas of varying accessibility with OUD health outcomes at county scale, and/or at finer resolution as data is made available. Identify thresholds or structural breaks in access scores that are associated with fewer overdoses, if such thresholds exist
Modeling Project