Background: The opioid crisis has affected each state differently based on various factors. This study focuses on the relationship between social determinants and opioid use in the state of Virginia in order to better understand and treat the opioid epidemic.

Methods: Data for opioid overdoses and deaths from 2011 to 2017 were obtained from the Virginia Department of Health. The dataset was linked with data from American FactFinder for sociological factors such as: Education, Income, Population, and Race. ANOVA analyses were examined to demonstrate statistical significance relationships between sociological factors and opioid overdoses and deaths. Maps of Virginia, adjusted for population size and opioid cases, were generated using GIS to visualize differences in communities.

Preliminary Results: Descriptive Statistics demonstrate a standard number of cases (n=5360) with large differences in means, standard deviation, and variance based on the social determinant. ANOVA analyses were conducted and demonstrate a significant difference based on social determinants. Among the significant social determinants are Education (<.0001), Income (<.0001), Population (<.0001), and Race (<.0001).

Discussion: Virginia’s Department of Health is extremely transparent in disclosing the amount of opioid cases in the state. The literature specific to the state of Virginia is lacking however. More research focused on the public health impacts of opioids in Virginia needs to occur and be published in order to produce policies which reflect differences in sociological factors. Finally, more states need to be following Virginia’s lead in releasing data in order to better understand the scope of the opioid crisis.