Zou awarded National Institutes of Health grant to study post-surgical pain and opioid use

October 3, 2024

By Ethan Chupp, Gillings School Communications Fellow

Associate Professor Baiming Zou, PhD, in the biostatistics department at the Gillings School, received a grant (R01) from the National Institutes of Health to bring machine learning analysis to post-surgical pain and opioid use.

Baiming Zou

Postoperative pain remains a major challenge, often leading to long recovery times and increased health care costs. Historically, such pain has been managed through the prescription of opioids like oxycodone. The addictive natures of these drugs, however, make them a problematic choice and finding other good pain management strategies is a challenge. Patients also respond differently to opioids, and it is not well understood how to predict a patient’s response.

After surgical operations, it is common for surgical patients to experience some amount of acute pain, meaning it lasts for 30 days or less. Some patients can experience chronic pain longer-term –when it lasts beyond three months ­–­ though it can also come and go.

The Zou Lab uses machine learning to examine data from anonymized electronic health records and other complex data sources. The Lab plans to apply a technique known as “deep learning,” which finds patterns in large, unstructured datasets.

By comparing records of patient histories and opioid management outcomes, the group will try to identify patterns that that explain how a patient may react to surgery and painkillers.

With these methods, Zou hopes to predict the course of pain for individual patients and improve clinical decision-making. By exploring innovative approaches, such as novel analgesics or advanced pain modulation techniques, this study aims to enhance patient outcomes and reduce reliance on opioids. This research will help build a more comprehensive understanding of pain mechanisms. Physicians may be able to use these insights to provide personalized pain management plans and avoid the risk of opioid overuse.

Co-investigators on this grant include Fei Zou and Didong Li, PhD, professors in the department of biostatistics and Isaac Luria, MD, MS, assistant professor of anesthesiology at the University of Florida College of Medicine

Contact the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health communications team at sphcomm@unc.edu.