Connecting the Big Data Dots to Optimize Health and Manage Disease
The era of “Quantified Self” (a term coined in 2007 by US WIRED founding executive editor Kevin Kelly) is relatively new. The first Fitbit digital step counters launched in late 2009, and we’ve since seen an explosion of various wearables, apps and digital health devices all riding the exponential wave of smaller and cheaper mobile-connected and app-ified sensors and computing.
We are now at the point where it is possible to measure almost every component of human physiology and many elements of behavior. But just having data (in increasingly overwhelming amounts) from disparate devices and apps does not alone translate to better health and prevention or improved management of disease.
The data and analytics need to connect with clinical endeavors to be translated into knowledge and actionable information.
As we head into 2017, the data dots are starting to be connected at meaningful scale, particularly as incentives in healthcare become more aligned towards value-based care, rewarding prevention, proactive care and improved outcomes.
The internet of things is rapidly coming to the “internet of the body and healthcare,” from “hospital to phone.” With it comes the promise of leveraging these diverse mobile and connected technologies beyond common health and fitness applications to make them truly impactful for the prevention and management of acute and chronic disease, and to further bring healthcare outside of the four walls of a clinic or hospital. As an example, the NHS recently announced that it will soon provide apps and devices to help manage chronic diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease.
We are moving beyond simple wrist-based accelerometers. Smartwatches regularly capture heart rate, and soon may add cuffless continuous blood pressure monitoring and glucose measures. Disposable vital-sign patches like those from SensiumVitals and VitalConnect can transmit streaming ECG, posture, temperature, stress data and more, anywhere there is a cell signal.
Integrated home diagnostic “medical Tricorder” platforms and connected pill bottles are coming to market. These will be paired with Amazon Echo and Your.MD and similar healthcare chatbots and those with avatars like Sense.ly virtual nurse as interfaces. Mental health can be discerned from analyzing our speech and the “digital exhaust” from our smartphones. Breath can be analyzed for more than alcohol, to track hydration status and molecules that can indicate a metabolic or malignant disease. Sensors in our beds or rings can readily track the quantity and quality of sleep. Connected onesies or sensor-fitted pacifiers can track the vitals and activity of our newborns.
New wearables are being developed to track gut activity (helpful after a surgery or in patients with irritable bowel disease). Consumer EEGs are now on the market that can measure brainwaves and help entrain mindfulness and meditation, and perhaps detect cognitive problems early. Startups are selling “insideables” (sensors in our bodies, from contact lenses to glucometers), even “trainables” (such as Upright, a device that buzzes your back when slouching to entrain a better posture, which help many with lower-back pain). This, paired with an explosion of available genomic data (from initiatives like the Genomics England 100,000 Genome project) which can help stratify risk and select the most patient-specific prevention and interventions.
So, although it’s exciting to witness the explosion of personal “omics,” wearables, connected devices and thousands of health-related apps, the impact may be a big “so what?” if the information isn’t made easily accessible, digestible and actionable.
