mHealth app predicts influenza outbreak a month before national surveillance

Mobile health (mHealth) applications have been able to predict an outbreak of influenza before national surveillance systems in China, according to researchers from Harvard University. The study, published in the American Journal of Public Health, evaluated nearly 50,000 mobile observations.

Digital health technology has been able to provide large scale surveillance at a low cost, but evidence of effectiveness in predicting an outbreak is lacking. Allowing parents to monitor children’s fever and other illnesses, the Thermia online educational app collected 44,999 observations from January 2014 to July 2016 to include in the study.

This study, led by Yulin Hswen of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Boston Children's Hospital, evaluated Thermia data to compare results of predictions of an influenza outbreak.

Results showed that Thermia was able to predict an outbreak a month before China's National Health and Family Planning Commission surveillance system.

“Digital health applications could supplement traditional influenza surveillance systems in China by providing access to consumers’ symptom reporting,” wrote Hswen and colleagues. “Growing popularity and use of commercial digital health applications in China potentially affords opportunities to support disease detection and monitoring and rapid treatment mobilization.”

""
Cara Livernois, News Writer

Cara joined TriMed Media in 2016 and is currently a Senior Writer for Clinical Innovation & Technology. Originating from Detroit, Michigan, she holds a Bachelors in Health Communications from Grand Valley State University.

Around the web

Cardiovascular devices are more likely to be in a Class I recall than any other device type. The FDA's approval process appears to be at least partially responsible, though the agency is working to make some serious changes. We spoke to a researcher who has been tracking these data for years to learn more. 

Updated compensation data includes good news for multiple subspecialties. The new report also examines private equity's impact on employment models and how much male cardiologists earn compared to females.

When drugs are on the FDA’s shortage list, outsourcing facilities can produce their own compounded versions. When the FDA removed tirzepatide from that list with no warning, it created a considerable amount of chaos both behind the scenes and in pharmacies all over the country. 

Trimed Popup
Trimed Popup