scholarly journals The Application of Internet-Based Sources for Public Health Surveillance (Infoveillance): Systematic Review (Preprint)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joana M Barros ◽  
Jim Duggan ◽  
Dietrich Rebholz-Schuhmann
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Systematic Literature Review ◽  
Public Health Surveillance ◽  
Information Dissemination ◽  
Early Warning Systems ◽  
Health Surveillance ◽  
Search Queries ◽  
The Impact

BACKGROUND Public health surveillance is based on the continuous and systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of data. This informs the development of early warning systems to monitor epidemics and documents the impact of intervention measures. The introduction of digital data sources, and specifically sources available on the internet, has impacted the field of public health surveillance. New opportunities enabled by the underlying availability and scale of internet-based sources (IBSs) have paved the way for novel approaches for disease surveillance, exploration of health communities, and the study of epidemic dynamics. This field and approach is also known as infodemiology or infoveillance. OBJECTIVE This review aimed to assess research findings regarding the application of IBSs for public health surveillance (infodemiology or infoveillance). To achieve this, we have presented a comprehensive systematic literature review with a focus on these sources and their limitations, the diseases targeted, and commonly applied methods. METHODS A systematic literature review was conducted targeting publications between 2012 and 2018 that leveraged IBSs for public health surveillance, outbreak forecasting, disease characterization, diagnosis prediction, content analysis, and health-topic identification. The search results were filtered according to previously defined inclusion and exclusion criteria. RESULTS Spanning a total of 162 publications, we determined infectious diseases to be the preferred case study (108/162, 66.7%). Of the eight categories of IBSs (search queries, social media, news, discussion forums, websites, web encyclopedia, and online obituaries), search queries and social media were applied in 95.1% (154/162) of the reviewed publications. We also identified limitations in representativeness and biased user age groups, as well as high susceptibility to media events by search queries, social media, and web encyclopedias. CONCLUSIONS IBSs are a valuable proxy to study illnesses affecting the general population; however, it is important to characterize which diseases are best suited for the available sources; the literature shows that the level of engagement among online platforms can be a potential indicator. There is a necessity to understand the population’s online behavior; in addition, the exploration of health information dissemination and its content is significantly unexplored. With this information, we can understand how the population communicates about illnesses online and, in the process, benefit public health.

scholarly journals The Application of Internet-Based Sources for Public Health Surveillance (Infoveillance): Systematic Review

10.2196/13680 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. e13680 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joana M Barros ◽  
Jim Duggan ◽  
Dietrich Rebholz-Schuhmann
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Systematic Literature Review ◽  
Public Health Surveillance ◽  
Information Dissemination ◽  
Early Warning Systems ◽  
Health Surveillance ◽  
Search Queries ◽  
The Impact

Background Public health surveillance is based on the continuous and systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of data. This informs the development of early warning systems to monitor epidemics and documents the impact of intervention measures. The introduction of digital data sources, and specifically sources available on the internet, has impacted the field of public health surveillance. New opportunities enabled by the underlying availability and scale of internet-based sources (IBSs) have paved the way for novel approaches for disease surveillance, exploration of health communities, and the study of epidemic dynamics. This field and approach is also known as infodemiology or infoveillance. Objective This review aimed to assess research findings regarding the application of IBSs for public health surveillance (infodemiology or infoveillance). To achieve this, we have presented a comprehensive systematic literature review with a focus on these sources and their limitations, the diseases targeted, and commonly applied methods. Methods A systematic literature review was conducted targeting publications between 2012 and 2018 that leveraged IBSs for public health surveillance, outbreak forecasting, disease characterization, diagnosis prediction, content analysis, and health-topic identification. The search results were filtered according to previously defined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Results Spanning a total of 162 publications, we determined infectious diseases to be the preferred case study (108/162, 66.7%). Of the eight categories of IBSs (search queries, social media, news, discussion forums, websites, web encyclopedia, and online obituaries), search queries and social media were applied in 95.1% (154/162) of the reviewed publications. We also identified limitations in representativeness and biased user age groups, as well as high susceptibility to media events by search queries, social media, and web encyclopedias. Conclusions IBSs are a valuable proxy to study illnesses affecting the general population; however, it is important to characterize which diseases are best suited for the available sources; the literature shows that the level of engagement among online platforms can be a potential indicator. There is a necessity to understand the population’s online behavior; in addition, the exploration of health information dissemination and its content is significantly unexplored. With this information, we can understand how the population communicates about illnesses online and, in the process, benefit public health.

scholarly journals Using Social Media for Biosurveillance: Gap between Research and Action

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tera Reynolds ◽  
Mark Cameron ◽  
Mike Conway ◽  
Amy Ising ◽  
Eric H.Y. Lau ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Systematic Literature Review ◽  
Disease Surveillance ◽  
Public Health Practice ◽  
Health Practice ◽  
Preliminary Results ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
The Impact

There is a significant body of literature on the use of social media for biosurveillance. However, less is known about the impact of integrating social media into public health practice, and resulting interventions. This motivated the ISDS Social Media for Disease Surveillance Workgroup to conduct a systematic literature review on the use of social media for actionable disease surveillance. Based on the preliminary results, there is little published literature on this topic, possibly suggesting that it is particularly challenging to translate research using social media for disease surveillance into practice.

scholarly journals Use of technology for public health surveillance reporting: opportunities, challenges and lessons learnt from Kenya

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Njeru ◽  
David Kareko ◽  
Ngina Kisangau ◽  
Daniel Langat ◽  
Nzisa Liku ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Surveillance System ◽  
Public Health Surveillance ◽  
Comparison Group ◽  
Intervention Group ◽  
Health Surveillance ◽  
Surveillance Data ◽  
Percentage Points ◽  
Reporting Rates ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background: Infectious diseases remain one of the greatest threats to public health globally. Effective public health surveillance systems are therefore needed to provide timely and accurate information for early detection and response. In 2016, Kenya transitioned its surveillance system from a standalone web-based surveillance system to the more sustainable and integrated District Health Information System 2 (DHIS2). As part of Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) initiatives in Kenya, training on use of the new system was conducted among surveillance officers. We evaluated the surveillance indicators during the transition period in order to assess the impact of this training on surveillance metrics and identify challenges affecting reporting rates. Methods: From February to May 2017, we analysed surveillance data for 13 intervention and 13 comparison counties. An intervention county was defined as one that had received refresher training on DHIS2 while a comparison county was one that had not received training. We evaluated the impact of the training by analysing completeness and timeliness of reporting 15 weeks before and 12 weeks after the training. A chi-square test of independence was used to compare the reporting rates between the two groups. A structured questionnaire was administered to the training participants to assess the challenges affecting surveillance reporting. Results: The completeness of reporting increased significantly after the training by 17 percentage points (from 45% to 62%) for the intervention group compared to 3 percentage points (49% to 52%) for the comparison group. Timeliness of reporting increased significantly by 21 percentage points (from 30% to 51%) for the intervention group compared to 7 percentage points (from 31% to 38%) for the comparison group. Major challenges identified for the low reporting rates included lack of budget support from government, lack of airtime for reporting, health workers strike, health facilities not sending surveillance data, use of wrong denominator to calculate reporting rates and surveillance officers being given other competing tasks. Conclusions: Training plays an important role in improving public health surveillance reporting. However, to improve surveillance reporting rates to the desired national targets, other challenges affecting reporting must be identified and addressed accordingly.

Twitter activity about treatments during the COVID-19 pandemic: case studies of remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine, and convalescent plasma. (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tymor Hamamsy ◽  
Richard Bonneau
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Public Health Surveillance ◽  
Information Dissemination ◽  
Health Surveillance ◽  
White House ◽  
The Public ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Clinical Trial Evidence ◽  
Twitter Activity ◽  
Trial Evidence

BACKGROUND Since the COVID-19 pandemic started, the public has been eager for news about promising treatments, and social media has played a large role in information dissemination. OBJECTIVE In this paper, our objectives are to characterize the public discussion of treatments on Twitter, and demonstrate the utility of these discussions for public health surveillance. METHODS We pulled tweets related to three promising COVID-19 treatments (hydroxychloroquine, remdevisir and convalescent plasma), between the dates of February 28th and May 22nd using the Twitter public API. We characterize treatment tweet trends over this time period. RESULTS Most major tweet/retweet/sentiment trends correlated to public announcement made by the white house and/or to new clinical trial evidence about treatments. Most of the websites people shared in treatment-related tweets were non-scientific media sources that leaned conservative. Hydroxychloroquine was the most discussed treatment on Twitter, and over 10% of hydroxychloroquine tweets mentioned an adverse drug reaction. CONCLUSIONS There is a gap between the public’s attention/discussion around COVID-19 treatments and their evidence. Twitter data can and should be used public health surveillance during this pandemic, as it is informative for monitoring adverse drug reactions, especially as many people avoid going to hospitals/doctors.

scholarly journals The impact of cell phones on public health surveillance

2010 ◽  
Vol 88 (11) ◽  
pp. 799-799 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaohua Sean Hu ◽  
Lina Balluz ◽  
Michael P Battaglia ◽  
Martin R Frankel
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Public Health Surveillance ◽  
Cell Phones ◽  
Health Surveillance ◽  
The Impact

scholarly journals Twitter activity about treatments during the COVID-19 pandemic: case studies of remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine, and convalescent plasma

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tymor Hamamsy ◽  
Richard Bonneau
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Public Health Surveillance ◽  
Information Dissemination ◽  
Health Surveillance ◽  
Public Attention ◽  
White House ◽  
The Public ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Clinical Trial Evidence ◽  
Twitter Activity

AbstractSince the COVID-19 pandemic started, the public has been eager for news about promising treatments, and social media has played a large role in information dissemination. In this paper, our objectives are to characterize the public discussion of treatments on Twitter, and demonstrate the utility of these discussions for public health surveillance. We pulled tweets related to three promising COVID-19 treatments (hydroxychloroquine, remdesivir and convalescent plasma), between the dates of February 28th and May 22nd using the Twitter public API. We characterize treatment tweet trends over this time period. Most major tweet/retweet/sentiment trends correlated to public announcement made by the white house and/or to new clinical trial evidence about treatments. Most of the websites people shared in treatment-related tweets were non-scientific, ideological media sources that leaned conservative. Hydroxychloroquine was the most discussed treatment on Twitter. There is a gap between the public attention/discussion around COVID-19 treatments and their evidence. Twitter data can and should be used for public health surveillance during this pandemic, as it is informative for monitoring adverse drug reactions, especially as many people avoid going to hospitals/doctors.

scholarly journals Use of technology for public health surveillance reporting: opportunities, challenges and lessons learnt from Kenya

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Njeru ◽  
David Kareko ◽  
Ngina Kisangau ◽  
Daniel Langat ◽  
Nzisa Liku ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Surveillance System ◽  
Public Health Surveillance ◽  
Comparison Group ◽  
Transition Period ◽  
Health Surveillance ◽  
Surveillance Data ◽  
Percentage Points ◽  
Reporting Rates ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background: Effective public health surveillance systems are crucial for early detection and response to outbreaks. In 2016, Kenya transitioned its surveillance system from a standalone web-based surveillance system to the more sustainable and integrated District Health Information System 2 (DHIS2). As part of Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) initiatives in Kenya, training on use of the new system was conducted among surveillance officers. We evaluated the surveillance indicators during the transition period in order to assess the impact of this training on surveillance metrics and identify challenges affecting reporting rates. Methods: From February to May 2017, we analysed surveillance data for 13 intervention and 13 comparison counties. An intervention county was defined as one that had received refresher training on DHIS2 while a comparison county was one that had not received training. We evaluated the impact of the training by analysing completeness and timeliness of reporting 15 weeks before and 12 weeks after the training. A chi-square test of independence was used to compare the reporting rates between the two groups. A structured questionnaire was administered to the training participants to assess the challenges affecting surveillance reporting. Results: The average completeness of reporting for the intervention counties increased from 45% to 62%, i.e. by 17 percentage points (95% CI 16.14 -17.86) compared to an increase from 49% to 52% for the comparison group, i.e. by 3 percentage points (95% CI 2.23 -3.77). The timeliness of reporting increased from 30% to 51%, i.e. by 21 percentage points (95% CI 20.16 - 21.84) for the intervention group, compared to an increase from 31% to 38% for the comparison group, i.e.by 7 percentage points (95% CI 6.27-7.73). Major challenges for the low reporting rates included lack of budget support from government, lack of airtime for reporting, health workers strike, health facilities not sending surveillance data, use of wrong denominator to calculate reporting rates and surveillance officers having other competing tasks. Conclusions: Training plays an important role in improving public health surveillance reporting. However, to improve surveillance reporting rates to the desired national targets, other challenges affecting reporting must be identified and addressed accordingly.

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