The opioid crisis: need for systems science research

Mohammad S Jalali,Rachael C Hwang,R Kathryn Mchugh,Howard K Koh,Michael Botticelli

doi:10.1186/s12961-020-00598-6

Abstract

The opioid epidemic in the United States has had a devastating impact on millions of people as well as on their families and communities. The increased prevalence of opioid misuse, use disorder and overdose in recent years has highlighted the need for improved public health approaches for reducing the tremendous harms of this illness. In this paper, we explain and call for the need for more systems science approaches, which can uncover the complexities of the opioid crisis, and help evaluate, analyse and forecast the effectiveness of ongoing and new policy interventions. Similar to how a stream of systems science research helped policy development in infectious diseases and obesity, more systems science research is needed in opioids.

Highlights

The staggering increase in opioid misuse, opioid use disorder diagnoses and overdose fatalities in the past two decades has yielded an urgent need in understanding the most effective public health interventions for addressing opioid-related harms
The understanding that the opioid crisis is not solely a behavioural and/or a biological problem, but is a problem influenced by many moving parts in the broader social-ecological system [1] indicates the importance of systems science tools to help assess the interconnections of the risk factors
Using systems science allows us to understand the complex connections between the behaviour of the system and its structure

Summary

Introduction

The staggering increase in opioid misuse, opioid use disorder diagnoses and overdose fatalities in the past two decades has yielded an urgent need in understanding the most effective public health interventions for addressing opioid-related harms. The understanding that the opioid crisis is not solely a behavioural and/or a biological problem, but is a problem influenced by many moving parts in the broader social-ecological system [1] indicates the importance of systems science tools to help assess the interconnections of the risk factors. As the opioid crisis is a multi-faceted issue [1], analysing the interconnections among the fragments of the systems can inform policy development and public health decisions.

Results

Conclusion