Author Date

2020-3

Degree Name

Department

Mathematics

College

Physical and Mathematical Sciences

Defense Date

2020-03-09

Publication Date

2020-03-11

First Faculty Advisor

Emily Evans

First Faculty Reader

Tyler Jarvis

Honors Coordinator

Michael Griffin

Keywords

NAMCS, opiate crisis, degenerative disease, osteoarthritis, imbalanced classification, pain syndromes

Abstract

Utilizing the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) database, this thesis explores patterns of opiate prescribing during time period from 1993 to 2016, which includes the time period when the opiate crisis was recognized in the United States and efforts begun to combat it. We analyze these patterns particularly as they relate to patients who were prescribed opiates and who were simultaneously suffering from various chronic conditions, and interactions between prescription of opiates and diagnosis of chronic conditions. We examine which demographic groups were most likely to receive opiates, and considered opiate prescription trends among patients with any pain diagnosis and with specific pain syndromes. We also attempted to classify which patients were most likely to be prescribed opiates using several machine learning classification techniques.