CORPH Seminar: David Kline, PhD 11/10/23
Location: Egleston Classroom 5 and Zoom Streaming
David Kline, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Biostatistics and Data Science
Department of Epidemiology and Prevention
Division of Public Health Sciences
Wake Forest University
School of Medicine
The overdose epidemic remains an ongoing national public health crisis and has been primarily driven by opioids. While the scale of the problem is apparent from observed overdoses, our understanding of the larger epidemic is hindered by a lack of data on the local prevalence of misuse. We developed a Bayesian integrated abundance model to synthesize data on multiple observed outcomes related to opioid misuse, including number of opioid overdose deaths, people served by treatment programs, and people receiving buprenorphine, to estimate the local prevalence of misuse. Using insights from the model, we can gain new perspectives on the epidemic that can inform intervention strategies. In addition, we highlight challenges when working with outcomes that are unobserved or otherwise imperfect. We also discuss how these challenges can impact interpretation of study findings.