CSU, CWRU researchers develop IoT-powered database and map used in the fight against drugs

It is no secret that the United States is dealing with an opioid epidemic. The question is what can be done about it. A team of researchers at Cleveland State and Case Western Reserve universities is turning to the Internet of Things to find solutions.

About 130 people in the U.S. die every day from an opiate overdose, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Ohio is one of the states most affected by the crisis. It experienced a 70% growth in suspected opioid overdoses over a nine-month period spanning 2016-2017, according to a study published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“What’s happening right now with opioids and gun violence is that they are not fundamental problems but symptoms of much larger problems,” says Dr. Nicholas Zingale, associate professor and director of CSU’s Institute of Applied Phenomenology in Science and Technology.

“What we try to do whenever we work on any of these problems is to think about fixing the symptom and how it connects to a much deeper issue,” Zingale adds. “The goal of the research is to target where we can have social interventions for those at risk and avoid a negative outcome.”

Together with Dr. Kenneth Loparo, Nord Professor of Engineering in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at CWRU, Zingale is studying the technical and administrative barriers to data sharing between law enforcement agencies and health providers. The goal is to significantly improve how they collaborate in addressing the opioid crisis.

“The data challenge is one of protecting individuals,” Zingale says. “While a lot of data is collected by various agencies this data is not readily shareable. Therefore, the most prominent data shared is mortality based. While this provides an idea about what might be going on in the opioid crisis, it can serve as a poor proxy for understanding specifics.”

This effort, titled “The IoTC Opioid Research Consortium Demo Project,” will examine eight cases of individuals who overdosed on opioids, four of whom survived and four of whom died. The project aims to identify where there are biases and gaps in the data gathering and sharing related to opioid addiction in Northeast Ohio.

In a related project, researchers from CWRU and CSU are developing a predictive modeling map that showcases hot zones for gun violence and drug offenses in Northeast Ohio. The project is led by CWRU’s Roberto Galán and Cleveland State’s Wendy Regoeczi.

“What they’re trying to get after is what might we be able to understand about those social determinants that can helps us predict whether or not it is going to result in gun use, drug offenses and gun violence,” Zingale says.

Being able to draw from multiple sources of data is key, Zingale says, stressing the need for various drug addiction research to be brought together so that biases are addressed and gaps are filled.

Where is all this data coming from one may ask?

Partners in both research projects include: St. Vincent Charity Medical Center; the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner; the Cuyahoga County Board of Health; the Ohio Attorney General, Cleveland Police; the Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board; BioEnterprise; and the High Intensity Drug Traffic Areas in Cleveland and Columbus. They will all work together to assess the data gathered from the studies.

The hope is that this team effort will provide Northeast Ohio with a database that can provide legislators, police and service providers with the tools needed in the fight against drug addiction.

Next Steps: In collaboration with BioEnterprise, the research team hopes to create an IoT-powered database that can be accessed publicly.

Learn More: Visit the BioEnterprise for progress on the database and see this article that discusses BioEnterprise’s foundational work leading up to this database project. Also,  check out the latest research published on the National Institute on Drug Abuse’s website.

The IoT Collaborative (IOTC), a partnership between Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland State University, is leading change as an engaged and socially responsible partner in the development and advancement of IoT.

3 Things to Know

1. In an effort to address the opioid crisis, CSU and CWRU researchers are studying the barriers to data sharing between various agencies.

2. With the help of local partners, the team is developing a central database that provides legislators, law enforcement and health providers with tools in the fight against drugs.

3. In a related project, CSU and CWRU researchers are developing a predictive modeling map highlighting hot zones for gun violence and drug offenses.

Researcher Q&A

Q: What are your research interests?
A: My personal research interests are in phenomenology, organizational theory, and governance.  In regards to the opioid project, I am interested in developing a Northeast Ohio Opioid Research Consortium model that would provide organically driven approaches for sharing research findings and building multi-disciplinary research teams.

Q: What are your goals?
A: A primary goal is to better understand the opioid crisis using multiple forms of inquiry. This would include everything from deep level experiential research to big data analysis.  I would like to see northeast Ohio have an ongoing Opioid research consortium summit.

Q: What are you most excited about in this research?
A: Specific to the Internet of Things Collaborative opioid research demo, we are hoping to learn more about research data gaps by focusing on the life experiences of recent fatal and near fatal opioid overdose cases.  From this, we are hoping that we can identify approaches to share data across services and agencies most commonly used by opioid users.