Can Your Digital Data Transform Health Research?
Every day, our digital lives leave behind a trail of data, whether it’s what we buy, the music we listen to, or the places we visit. What if this detailed information could be linked to long-term health records, to uncover new insights into how our lifestyle choices affect our health?
Researchers from the University of Bristol are exploring how to combine these “digital footprint” data with existing longitudinal studies that collect data from volunteers about their health over time. This can also include information on family relationships, school, jobs, diet, and daily routines. They are looking at whether adding digital footprint data, e.g. from social media and supermarket loyalty cards, could offer even deeper insights into the links between everyday behaviour and health.
What can shopping and social media data tell us?
Supermarket loyalty card data could help researchers understand how diet affects health. By looking at what people regularly buy, whether it’s fresh fruit and vegetables or sugary snacks, and comparing it to health measures like weight, BMI, or medical conditions (like heart disease or diabetes), researchers can spot patterns. This could help to identify early warning signs of diet-related health issues and even support efforts to improve public health, like shaping nutrition advice that encourages healthier eating.
Meanwhile, social media activity could provide clues about mental well-being. How often people post, the topics they discuss, and the words they use might be linked to their mental health. For example, researchers could see if changes in posting habits are linked to symptoms of anxiety or depression. This could help predict mental health issues earlier and improve support for those at risk.
Our data linkage approach
To successfully link digital footprints data with longitudinal studies, the research team have developed a four-part approach, published in the International Journal of Population Data Science (IJPDS), including: what the public thinks about it, how the data is collected, what it looks like, and, most importantly, how to keep it safe.
Understanding What People Think: Before using people’s data, it’s important to talk to people about how their information will be used, ask for their opinions, and listen to their concerns. Clear communication helps build trust, which is important when working with personal data.
Collecting and Connecting Data: This step focuses on gathering people’s digital footprint data, and combining it with longitudinal studies This might involve collaborating with companies (like supermarkets) to collect the information.
Checking the Data: Once the data is collected, it’s important to make sure it’s accurate and that it represents everyone fairly. Researchers need to make sure the data is reliable enough to be used for health research.
Keeping the Data Safe: Finally, the data needs to be stored and analysed in a secure way to protect privacy. This might involve anonymising sensitive data or doing risk checks to keep data safe and confidential.
Lead author Romana Burgess said, “Our digital lives are a reflection of our lifestyle choices—what we buy, where we go, and how we connect with others. When linked to health data, these digital footprints can provide important insights into how our habits impact our health and wellbeing.”
This approach isn’t just about collecting data, it’s about doing so in a way that respects the privacy of the public, ensures fairness, and meets the highest ethical standards. Following this approach will help researchers to responsibly connect digital footprints and longitudinal studies for the benefit of research, opening up exciting new possibilities for understanding health.
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Dr. Romana Burgess, Senior Research Associate, Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, UK