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

Most studies have used internet-based data sources such as web search queries (57 studies) followed by social media posts (34 studies), web portal posts (13 studies), and webpage access logs (8 studies). Other data sources have included mobile phone networks, GPS, drones/balloons, and call centers. Epidemiological studies using digital data in underdeveloped countries tend to use data from devices because of the typically poor internet connections in such regions. For example, long-range/-distance temperature sensors and drones were used to collect infectious disease-related data from study participants in Africa [16] . Mobile phone data was used to study the travel patterns and malaria risk for the population of Kenya [10] , and to examine the magnitude and trends of population movements following the earthquake and cholera outbreak in Haiti [11] .