Health Disparities and Social Determinants in Opioid Addiction
Opioid use and abuse occurs across all sectors of the population; anyone can become caught in this trap. According to the American Society of Addiction Medicine, “Addiction is a primary, chronic and relapsing brain disease” (Opioid Addiction, 2017). Therefore, when researching and creating policy to help patients, doctors must understand what risk factors lead to the condition and if there are any existing impediments that will prevent patients from receiving the best evidence based care. One way to do this is to consider the social determinants of health that contribute to addiction, as well as the healthcare disparities that lead to a higher burden on certain groups.
Social Determinants
Social determinants are the conditions and risks that exist in a person’s life which contribute to a specific condition such as opioid abuse. These can include where one was born, the environment a person lives and grows up in, their age, or where they work. According to Kosten & George, complex brain abnormalities in conjunction with other factors such as “stress, the social context of initial
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After an injury or surgery, even with careful prescription management, a patient can develop a dependence on prescription drugs. At that point, they are 40 times more likely to turn to illicit drugs such as heroin (Bock, 2015). Depression, insomnia, or stress can also encourage patients to self-medicate and misuse their prescription- especially in patients using them for an extended period (Rosenblatt & Catlin, 2012). No one is immune from this potential problem. There is no discrimination in who can become addicted to opioids- young, old, male, female, white, black, Asian, rich, poor, educated, uneducated- everyone is susceptible. However, there are several healthcare disparities that impact this