Yu-Jung “Jenny” Wei, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the department of pharmaceutical outcomes and policy, has received a two-year, $100,000 grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research Quality, or AHRQ. The grant funds Wei’s project to understand what risk factors predispose older adults to hospitalizations due to opioid dependence, abuse and poisoning.
Opioid-related hospitalizations among older adults have increased more than 50 percent over the past decade, according to AHRQ’s estimates from recent national inpatient data. AHRQ noticed this alarming increase and in 2018, issued a special emphasis notice focused on addressing opioid epidemic in various populations, including older adults.