Data explosion during COVID-19: A call for collaboration with the tech industry & data scrutiny

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Elizabeth Hechenbleikner, Emory University; Daniel V. Samarov, Daniel V. Samarov Inc.; Edward Lin, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2020-06-01
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2020.100377
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: EClinicalMedicine
• Volume: 23
• Start Page: 100377
• End Page: 100377
• Grant/Funding Information: None declared
• Keywords: Science & Technology; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; Medicine, General & Internal; General & Internal Medicine

Abstract

The volume and speed of data generation in biomedical literature, social media, and other resources during the COVID-19 pandemic is unprecedented. This mountain of data is growing daily across PubMed, Twitter, Google Scholar, and the World Health Organization's COVID-19 database [1], naming a few. The recently published COVID-19 Twitter dataset may offer insights into multiple topics from compliance with social distancing to assembling homemade masks and mental health tips [2]. Beyond social media, the massive COVID-19 Open Research Dataset (CORD-19) has been assembled from tech giants like Microsoft, the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, and Georgetown University's Center for Security and Emerging Technology [3]. This dataset houses over 12,000 full text articles in “machine-readable form” that can be ingested programmatically into computer software programs and analyzed using machine learning applications like natural language processing (NLP). Furthermore, CovidSurg is a global registry for tracking outcomes in COVID-19 infected surgical patients with over 100 countries registered [4]. This registry represents a unique opportunity to evaluate variation in patient characteristics, peri‑operative management and surgical outcomes. Additionally, guidelines continue to emerge from large international surgical societies like Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES). SAGES has developed peri‑operative safety practices involving filtration, smoke evacuation, and personal protective equipment use [5]. It is paramount that prospective data collection efforts across these resources and multiple areas of clinical practice continues both institutionally and globally.