The Association between Educational Attainment as a Socioeconomic Determinant and Opioid-Related Deaths in Georgia Público

Abstract

The opioid epidemic has become one of the leading public health issues in the Unites States. Opioid related deaths have drastically increased in the past decade and are now the leading cause of unintentional death in the United States. In this study, I analyzed the association between educational attainment and death resulting from opioids in Georgia. I also examined the distribution of deaths resulting from opioids among racial, gender, and age groups in Georgia. A dataset provided by the Georgia Department of Public Health consisting of deaths due to opioids and fatal car accidents were used in this analysis. These types of deaths were determined according to the ICD-10 coding system. Educational attainment was categorized into three groups: no high school diploma or GED, and high school diploma or GED, and some college or more. When analyzing the distribution of opioid-related deaths, frequencies and percentages of deaths among each demographic group at each level of educational attainment. To analyze the association between educational attainment and death due to opioids, cases of opioid-related deaths were matched with fatalities in motor vehicle accidents on age group, gender, and race. A conditional logistic regression model was then used to determine the odds of death due to opioid compared to that of death due to fatal motor vehicle accident among different levels of educational attainment. This analysis showed that most opioid-related deaths were among white, middle-aged males. It also found that there is very little difference in the odds of death due to opioid-related causes compared to fatal motor vehicle accidents, regardless of levels of educational attainment.

Table of Contents

Background………………………………………………………………………………………. 1

Overview…………………………………………………………………………………. 1

Opioids in the body………………………………………………………………………. 1

Opioid Abuse in the United States……………………………………………………….. 2

Opioid abuse in Georgia………………………………………………………………….. 3

Opioid use beyond adults…………………………………………………………………. 4

Motor Vehicle Accidents in Georgia……………………………………………………... 5

Methods…………………………………………………………………………………………... 6

Dataset……………………………………………………………………………………. 6

Variables…………………………………………………………………………………. 6

Inclusion criteria for cases………………………………………………………………... 7

Exclusion criteria for cases……………………………………………………………….. 8

Inclusion criteria for controls……………………………………………………………... 8

Exclusion criteria for controls ……………………………………………………………. 8

Matching…………………………………………………………………………………. 9

Analysis…………………………………………………………………………………... 9

Results……………………………………………………………………………………………. 9

Opioid-Related Deaths…………………………………………………………………… 9

Matched Case Control Analysis…………………………………………………………. 11

Discussion………………………………………………………………………………………. 12

Conclusion and Recommendations……………………………………………………………... 16

Tables & Figures………………………………………………………………………………... 18

Table 1. …………………………………………………………………………………. 18

Table 2…………………………………………………………………………………... 19

Table 3. …………………………………………………………………………………. 19

Table 4…………………………………………………………………………………... 20

References……………………………………………………………………………………21    

About this Master's Thesis

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School	Rollins School of Public Health
Department	Environmental Health
Degree	M.S.P.H.
Submission	Master's Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Health Sciences, Public Health Health Sciences, Epidemiology
Palavra-chave	opioids education socioeconomic status
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Steenland, Kyle, Emory University
Committee Members	Tolbet, Paige, Emory University
Partnering Agencies	Emory University schools, faculty or affiliated programs

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