The smartphone is not only ubiquitous in our lives, but also a very powerful device that’s constantly collecting information. Accessing that information, which covers movement and activity, screen time, social activity, location and more, can provide health researchers with valuable data about our health and well-being.
Two researchers who have worked with the UPMC-funded Pittsburgh Health Data Alliance are exploring the ways passive sensing data from smartphones can be used to predict clinical outcomes for patients.
Carissa A. Low, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Psychology at University of Pittsburgh, and Afsaneh Doryab, PhD, Systems Scientist in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, presented findings from several of their studies during a speaker series talk at UPMC Enterprises in August.
Their presentation – “Passive mobile sensing to monitor and improve clinical outcomes” – included discussion of a PHDA-funded project in which data collected from smartphones and Fitbits is being used to predict hospital readmissions. The team looked at patients with pancreatic cancer before, during and after surgery for the disease to see if they could correlate changes in their behavior with readmissions to the hospital for complications from the surgery.
While the team is still analyzing the results, one preliminary analysis of data from a small sample of patients since the discharge day shows between 72 to 93 percent accuracy rate in inferring whether or not a patient is readmitted. The prediction rate is variable on each day depending on the amount of data available from patients.
So far studies in this area have been small, but the researchers believe there is great potential for real-time passive monitoring from smartphones to unlock hidden patterns about our health. And using computer models to quickly analyze the data could lead to earlier and more effective interventions.
Which leads us to a new feature we’re including in the reply-all newsletter: The UPMCE Poll. This month we’re asking what you think about providing data from your smartphone.
Vote below and look for additional polls in coming months.
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