Agent-based Dynamics of a SPAHR Opioid Model on Social Network Structures

TL;DR

This paper uses agent-based modeling on social networks to explore opioid addiction dynamics, highlighting the importance of social network structure and contagion in drug use initiation and substance use disorder development.

Contribution

It introduces an agent-based social network model for opioid addiction, comparing it with existing models and emphasizing the role of network structure in contagion dynamics.

Findings

Average path length influences social contagion of drug use

Social interactions beyond pre-use networks affect substance use disorder

Agent-based modeling provides new insights into opioid epidemic dynamics

Abstract

Addiction epidemiology has been an active area of mathematical research in recent years. However, the social and mental processes involved in substance use disorders versus contraction of a pathogenic disease have presented challenges to advancing the epidemiological theory of substance abuse, especially within the context of the opioids where both prescriptions and social contagion have played a major role. In this paper, we utilize an agent-based modeling approach on social networks to further explore these dynamics. Using parameter estimation approaches, we compare our results to that of the Phillips et al. SPAHR model which was previously fit to data from the state of Tennessee. Our results show that the average path length of a social network has a strong relationship to social contagion dynamics for drug use initiation, while other pathways to substance use disorder should not be constrained to social network interactions that predate the individual's drug use.