Data usage and health

This is a reflective blog post taking into consideration what I have learnt during the first two weeks of my full time MA course Library Science. What I have found most interesting is the way in which data has shaped our lives and potentially our futures, especially in relation to our mental and physical health. 

Everything in our society is becoming reliant on individual data, from online banking to egovernment. Our reliance, as a society, on data is becoming more prevalent in how we think of ourselves within society, in his 2011 TED talk, Luciano Floridi states “we are interconnected information organisms”(Inforgs). Floridi describes a transformation; where information has become our environment (the Infosphere).  This transition into the Infosphere re-examines our relationship with health, both our physical and mental ailments, and how data can help us understand the most effective treatments to the individual.  Floridi examines this transition into ehealth, looking into “the democratisation of health information”, and how through using data we can construct a patient orientated health system. 

In her BBC Four Documentary Hannah Fry (“The Joys of Data”) experiences a live-in-data house, an experiment run by the University of Bristol, designed to use machine learning to “monitor . . . the data of normal behaviour”. By using a wearable the computer is able to track Hannah’s movements from going upstairs to downstairs, whether she was crawling on the floor, and what time she went to sleep. The experiment’s most integral aim was to use this data to help those with physical ill-health, so through machine learning the team can catalogue the data from Hannah’s evening. With the possibility to use machine learning to spot patterns of ill-health among vulnerable groups.  

Another example of how data can potentially be used to help understand mental illnesses and prescribed medications, is Dr Claire Gillian’s  new project that will be groundbreaking for new patients about to start antidepressants. By creating an algorithm Dr Gillian will be able to estimate which certain characteristics react and respond to specific treatments. Through the use of data and cognitive tests participants will share online, Dr. Gillian will be able to spot patterns from the data given and be able to “predict” which antidepressants work best for a participant. This experiment is a potential breakthrough in the field of  mental health as only “40% of patients respond to the first treatment they get”. This usage of data could be revolutionary in helping the participants find the treatment they need within the first few months of a diagnosis. This project has the possibility to redefine how patients are prescribed antidepressants, and has the capacity to use data to track the progress of the prescribed medications to see how well people are reacting to algorithmic prescriptions. 

So what does this mean for the future? 

It is clear the link between data and health is potentially unlimited, regarding patients diagnosi, prescriptions and treatments; through using data and machine learning to spot patterns of disease, mental illness, and other ailments of the body. However, transparency of how this data is used and examined, by health services, is detrimental to us as Inforgs, for as Floridi states it “touches the nerve of what it means to be human”. (The Joys of Data) 

References

Luciano Floridi, TEDxMaastricht, 2011, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-kJsyU8tgI

“Predicting the effectiveness of antidepressants” – https://www.mqmentalhealth.org/research/profiles/predicting-how-well-anti-depressants-work

“What big data can do for mental health treatments” https://www.mqmentalhealth.org/posts/what-can-big-data-do-for-mental-health-treatment

Hannah Fry, “The Joys of Data”, BBC Four Documentary