KY University Researchers To Use AI To Predict Opioid Overdoses

Introduction

Artificial intelligence will be used by the University of Kentucky researchers to attempt to anticipate and stop such opioid overdoses.

One of the project's founders is a professor at the UK Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy. He stated that a mechanism will be created to examine data collected on things like ambulance journeys and prescriptions for restricted medications on a state-wide level. And they'll utilize AI to analyze the data and make predictions about where the upcoming overdose surges could occur.

The project's objective is to make it possible to search for hotspots. It will decide all other elements, including the fluctuations in opioid overdoses. We will be able to identify where there will be an increase or decline with the aid of AI models. Communities should eventually be able to utilize these forecasts to take appropriate action to lessen harm to community members. Making better-informed choices on how to use their respective shares of the funds Kentucky receives from settlements with pharmaceutical companies that contributed to the U.S. opioid crisis may be one way to do this.

Additionally, it can entail assisting neighborhood organizations in choosing where to focus their efforts during a specific week or month. For instance, if an increase in overdoses is anticipated in their county, they could give out additional overdose-reversing Naloxone to drug users.

The main goal of the project is to develop a population-based, near-real-time, statewide monitoring system and distribute information to local governments so they may assess local needs and decide where to direct resources or attention.

Rapid Actionable Data for Opioid Response in Kentucky, or RADOR-KY, is the name of this new effort. With a $3.1 million budget, the National Institute on Drug Abuse is supporting the first year of the five-year program.

The university's work on The HEALing Communities Study, another federally funded opioid-focused effort, served as the inspiration for the concept to develop a data-driven preventive approach. The goal of that project has been to significantly reduce overdose mortality in a few Kentucky counties, notably Jefferson County. The foundation established by that current undertaking is being built upon by them.

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