Relapse Processes are Important in Modelling Drug Epidemic.

Citation: Tang, AY, Ling, MHT. 2022. Relapse Processes are Important in Modelling Drug Epidemic. Acta Scientific Medical Sciences 6(6): 177-182.

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Global drug epidemic is an important public health issue. Mathematical modelling is vital for gaining insights, which may inform policy making. Several modelling studies fail to adequately address relapse, which includes rapid relapse into heavy or light drug use, and relapse after extended sobriety. Here, we study the impact of relapses by incorporating relapse processes into an existing 6-compartment model. Our results show that the proportions of drug users are higher with relapse processes than that without relapse processes; yet, the proportion of rehabilitation is lower with relapse than without relapse. This highlights the importance of relapse processes in modelling drug epidemic.