Data overdose: side effects and metabolism of big data in the 21st century

Quality of Life Technologies Lab | Cognitive Aging Lab
University of Geneva
qol.unige.ch
Data overdose:
side eﬀects and metabolism of
big data in the 21st
century
Igor Matias M.Sc., Ph.D. Student
The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, United States of America, 1 February 2023

Qol.unige.ch | © QoL Lab 2023
Igor Matias, M.Sc., Ph.D. Student T.A. @ Université de Genève | www.igormatias.com February 2023 2
Where is home?
as of 2023

World Health Organization Global Health Expenditure database. Geneva, World Health Organization; 2020
Health
expenditure
(% of GDP) - 2019
USA: 16.8%

Global Health Estimates 2020: Deaths by Cause, Age, Sex, by Country and by Region, 2000-2019. Geneva, World Health Organization; 2020
Death by
non-communicable
diseases
(% of total) - 2019

Non-communicable
diseases
“Non-communicable diseases (NCDs), also
known as chronic diseases, tend to be of
long duration and are the result of a
combination of genetic, physiological,
environmental and behavioural factors”
Global Burden of Disease Collaborative Network, Global Burden of Disease Study 2019 (GBD 2019) Results Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation – IHME; 2020.
Deaths by
disease type

Modiﬁable behavior
risk factors
Key response:
● Detection
● Screening
● Treatment
● Palliative care
Global Burden of Disease Collaborative Network, Global Burden of Disease Study 2019 (GBD 2019) Results, Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation – IHME; 2020.
Deaths by
modiﬁable
behavioral risk
factor

Interventions involving
behavioral aspects
5’502 papers per year
from 2018 to 2022
Focusing:
● Tobacco
● Alcohol
● Physical activity
● Others
Robert West, Susan Michie. How many papers are published each week reporting on trials of interventions involving behavioural aspects of health? Qeios.com. 2023.

Where is the big data?

Big data in
Medical records
What if there was a link between
Virus exposure
and
Neurodegenerative disease?
(even 15 years after)
Levine KS et al. Virus exposure and neurodegenerative disease risk across national biobanks. Neuron. 2023.
signif.
associated
Viral
encephalitis
Alzheimer’s
disease
Inﬂuenza
Generalized
dementia
Amyotrophic
lateral sclerosis
Parkinson’s
disease
Vascular
dementia

A smartphone is
more than 80% of the day
around you
What about wearables?
Dey, A. K., Wac, K., Ferreira, D., Tassini, K., Hong, J. H., & Ramos, J. Getting closer: An Empirical Investigation Of The Proximity Of User To Their Smart Phones. In Proceedings of the ACM UBICOMP; 2011.
Big data everywhere

The power of
wearables
438 devices from 2001 to 2018
Wac, K.,From Quantiﬁed Self to Quality of Life, Chapter in: Digital Health: Scaling Healthcare to the World, Series: Health Informatics, Springer Nature; 2018.
Number of devices
by behavior tracked

Growing popularity
179 studies between 2013 and 2020
10+ Million participants
Huhn S. et al. The Impact of Wearable Technologies in Health Research: Scoping Review. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth; 2022.
Number of
studies by reason

As in: Huhn S. et al. The Impact of Wearable Technologies in Health Research: Scoping Review. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth; 2022.

Which type of studies?
Most observational (study and population-wise)
Most investigated:
Huhn S. et al. The Impact of Wearable Technologies in Health Research: Scoping Review. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth; 2022.
0.02%
Number of
studies
Number of
participants

What is the advantage?
Let me exemplify…

Manea V., Wac K. Co-Calibrating Physical and Psychological Outcomes and Consumer Wearable Activity Outcomes in Older Adults: An Evaluation of the coQoL Method, MDPI Journal of Personalized Medicine, 2020
0 questions, 99% sure(or
so)
Spearman ρ ≥ 0.8 (high correlation) between:
?
Physical activity Social support
Sleep duration Anxiety/stress

Haomiao J. et al. Within-person Relationships of Sleep Duration with Next-Day Stress and Aﬀect in the Daily Life of Adults with Type-1 Diabetes, medRxiv, 2023
0 questions, 99% sure(or
so)
Type-1 diabetes
?
Disappoint
Sad
Tense
Upset
Anxious
Sleep duration
Sleep duration
Stress

Dagum, P. Digital biomarkers of cognitive function. npj Digital Med 1, 10; 2018.
Anticipate the future
Digital biomarkers of cognitive function
?
Working memory
Memory Exec. function
Language Intelligence

Zahrt OH et al. Effects of Wearable Fitness Trackers and Activity Adequacy Mindsets on Affect, Behavior, and Health: Longitudinal Randomized Controlled Trial. J Med Internet Res.; 2023.
Force a better you!
162 adults, 5 weeks
1. Accurate display
2. 40% deflated
3. 40% inflated
4. Accurate + interv.
+
Healthier diet + Mental health
Unhealthier diet Negative affect
Positive affect + Functional health
Step count did NOT change

Are wearables good?
Yes, they are!

What about its data?
Well, it’s complicated…

Rhine Falls, Switzerland.

Temple of Edfu, Aswan, Egypt.

The Thinker, Paris, France.

RCT with wearables
N = 1, 24 days
Intervention
Outcomes
Daza EJ, Wac K, Oppezzo M. Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Blood Glucose, Food Cravings, and Affect in a Non-Diabetic: An N-of-1 Randomized Pilot Study. Healthcare; 2019.
Sleep
deprivation
Blood glucose Craving Negative affect

Shibuya Crossing, Tokyo, Japan.

Model-Twin
Randomization (MoTR)
Estimates causal eﬀect
Using longitudinal observational data
Daza EJ, Schneider L. Model-Twin Randomization (MoTR): A Monte Carlo Method for Estimating the Within-Individual Average Treatment Eﬀect Using Wearable Sensors, arxiv, 2022
N-of-1 longitudinal observational data
Simulated N-of-1 randomized trial

MoTR
Example of application
N = 3, observational data
1’426 days for 1, 148 days for other 2
Exposures
Outcomes
Matias I, Daza EJ, Wac K. What possibly aﬀects nighttime heart rate? Conclusions from N-of-1 observational data. DIGITAL HEALTH. 2022.
amp. avg.
amp.
avg.
avg.
avg.
suggested effect
suggested effect
suggested effect
suggested effect

It’s better now!
Let’s talk about applicability…

MoTR
Applicability
Testing of self-beliefs without an RCT
Study of hypothesis not feasible for an RCT
Help on deciding treatments before an RCT
Reﬂect on confounders before an RCT is made
Disclaimer: MoTR is provided as is and should not be used to infer self-medication and/or life-threatening self-intervention.
Free Python implementation
bit.ly/MoTRpythonV1

My Ph.D. research:
Healthy
Dementia due to
Alzheimer’s disease
Using
Withings SteelHR is a registered trademark of Withings.

My Ph.D. research:
Assess
cognitive
performance
ﬂuctuations
Using
Interindividual
Intraindividual
variation
Withings SteelHR is a registered trademark of Withings.
MoTR

The knot.
If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.
derived from the original from Lord Kelvin
Original:
“I often say that when you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but
when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind; it may
be the beginning of knowledge, but you have scarcely, in your thoughts, advanced to the stage of science, whatever the matter may
be.”
Lord Kelvin, Popular Lectures Vol. I, p. 73.

Quality of Life Technologies Lab | Cognitive Aging Lab
University of Geneva
qol.unige.ch
“Any suﬃciently advanced technology is
indistinguishable from magic” Arthur C. Clarke
Igor Matias M.Sc., Ph.D. Student
Center for Informatics, University of Geneva, Switzerland
IgorMatias.com
Icons by Flaticon, Images by FreePik, Adobe Stock, and myself.

Data overdose: side effects and metabolism of big data in the 21st century

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Data overdose: side effects and metabolism of big data in the 21st century