Digital Epidemiology: Use of Digital Data Collected for Non-epidemiological Purposes in Epidemiological Studies

Park, Hyeoun-Ae; Jung, Hyesil; On, Jeongah; Park, Seul Ki; Kang, Hannah

Data was abstracted from these studies using a data collection tool we developed (Table 2 ) and disagreements were resolved by consensus. This tool pertains to the purpose of research, methodology (study design, type of analysis) and findings of the studies. We identified the purpose of research by examining the introduction section of the articles. We evaluated the geographic region, data collection period, additional data sources, design, outcome measures, analytic methods, and use of empirical data by examining the methods section of the articles. We extracted primary findings by examining the results section of the articles. We did not attempt to pool the results due to the heterogeneity of the study outcomes; we instead provide summary statistics of the studies.