I-SUDS

Iowa Substance Abuse Use Data Set (I-SUDS):
Preventing Overdose Through Actionable Data.

In the U.S., prescription opioid-related overdose deaths have continued to rise, despite some states showing decline. In Iowa, the rates of prescription opioid-related overdose deaths, 6.2 per 100,000 people, are lower than the national rate of 13.3 per 100,000. However, like the rest of the nation, this represents a substantial increase; the death rate has nearly doubled in a ten-year period, from 3.3 in 2006 to 6.2 per 100,000 people in 2016. In addition to increasing death rates, injection drug use is associated with increasing rates of HIV and hepatitis C infections. The current opioid crisis also affects economic output, with more than four million U.S. workers currently out of the labor force because of opioid use. A recent statewide stakeholder meeting convened by the Injury Prevention Research Center at the University of Iowa identified improving surveillance as one of the top five priorities to combat opioid use disorder in Iowa. In particular, stakeholders identified a need for real-time data that can be sourced from, and used by, multiple agencies and communities.

Our long-term goal is to empower local communities to prevent the spread of substance use disorders by expanding and integrating the sets of data available to provide key stakeholders with actionable data customized to their needs.

We plan to accomplish this goal by building the Iowa Substance Use Data Set (I-SUDS), a multi-stream, multi-sourced, comprehensive data warehouse for timely, non-personally identifiable, actionable data derived from institutional records, community partners, and directly from substance users.
I-SUDS will house both quantitative and qualitative data, accessible through a set of mobile/web apps, and customized to the specific needs of diverse stakeholders, including researchers, educators, health care providers, journalists, community members, local public officials, and substance users.

Specific Aims

Aim 1

Aim 1: Identify reliable, relevant data sets at the local, state, and national levels, and design a data-warehousing infrastructure to manage storing, updating, and sharing these data. We will identify reliable data sources to assess the amount and consequences of opioid or related substance use. We will also design infrastructure for a data warehouse to host the data, update it, and enable flexible sharing through Web APIs.

Outcomes: After completing Aim 1 we expect to have identified data sources and prioritized them for inclusion in a data warehouse. We will also design the data warehouse and the processes to import these existing data sources, as well as design Web APIs for writing to and reading from the data warehouse.

Aim 2

Aim 2: Identify substance use information needs and capacity to supply data of health care providers, harm reduction centers, policy makers, and other stakeholders in two Iowa counties. We will conduct interviews and focus groups with community stakeholders in two Iowa counties (Johnson and Clinton), including health care providers, harm reduction centers, policy makers, and journalists.

Outcomes: The needs identified through stakeholder interviews will be compared to the data sets being identified and vetted in Aim 1. In addition, data that suggest opportunities for community-level data sourcing will be communicated with the team members focusing on Aim 1 to begin to structure a framework for community-based data collection and integration into the larger data set. Finally, the completion of this aim will result in a framework for integrating qualitative data into the larger dataset. This may include field notes, interview tapes and/or transcripts, and focus group transcripts.

Aim 3

Aim 3: Design prototypes of apps for two stakeholder groups. We will convene two stakeholder groups for whom we will design prototypes of apps to contribute and/or access data. The design process of the prototypes will include feedback from each of the two groups of stakeholders.