Data Blindspots: High-Tech Disease Surveillance Misses the Poor

Authors

  • Samuel V. Scarpino
  • James G. Scott
  • Rosalind Eggo
  • Nedialko B. Dimitrov
  • Lauren A. Meyers

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5210/ojphi.v8i1.6451

Abstract

Influenza hospitalizations are positively associated with poverty. Therefore, individuals in lower socioeconomic brackets are considered to be members of at-risk populations. With the goal of improving situational awareness, we developed a framework for combining multiple data sources to predict at-risk hospitalizations. The data sources considered were: emergency departments, primary health care providers, and Google Flu Trends. We demonstrate that out-of-sample performance was lowest in the most at-risk zip codes, which identifies a key data blindspot, highlights the importance of understanding the dynamics of influenza in at-risk populations, and reveals the far-reaching public health consequences of restricted access to health care.

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Published

2016-03-24

How to Cite

Scarpino, S. V., Scott, J. G., Eggo, R., Dimitrov, N. B., & Meyers, L. A. (2016). Data Blindspots: High-Tech Disease Surveillance Misses the Poor. Online Journal of Public Health Informatics, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.5210/ojphi.v8i1.6451

Issue

Section

Oral Presentations