JMIR Public Health and Surveillance

Supporting and understanding the health of patients with chronic diseases and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk is often a major challenge. Health data are often used in providing feedback to patients, and visualization plays an important role in facilitating the interpretation and understanding of data and, thus, influencing patients’ behavior. Visual analytics enable efficient analysis and understanding of large datasets in real time. Digital health technologies can promote healthy lifestyle choices and assist in estimating CVD risk.

Previous studies investigating environmental and behavioral drivers of chronic disease have often had limited temporal and spatial data coverage. Smartphone-based digital phenotyping mitigates the limitations of these studies by using intensive data collection schemes that take advantage of the widespread use of smartphones while allowing for less burdensome data collection and longer follow-up periods. In addition, smartphone apps can be programmed to conduct daily or intraday surveys on health behaviors and psychological well-being.

Aging, a significant public health issue, is associated with multiple concurrent chronic diseases and aging-related conditions (geriatric syndromes).

Previous studies have proved the effectiveness of endoscopic screening in rural areas; however, long-term, high-quality evidence regarding the effectiveness of risk-adapted Upper Gastrointestinal Cancer (UGC) sequential screening strategies in resource-rich regions is currently lacking.

Antibiotic resistance (ABR) poses a major burden to global health and economic systems. ABR in community-acquired urinary tract infections (CA-UTIs) has become increasingly prevalent. Accurate estimates of the clinical and economic burden of ABR are needed to support medical resource prioritisation and cost-effectiveness evaluations of UTI interventions.

Despite several studies on self-evaluation of health and body shape, existing research on the risk factors of self-perceived overweight is insufficient, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although the problem of malnutrition among children in China has greatly improved in recent years, there is a gap compared to developed countries, and there are differences between provinces. Research on long-term comprehensive trends in child growth failure (CGF) in China is needed for further improvement.

In Lesotho, a landlocked country of 2 million people in Southern Africa, the laboratory and case-based COVID-19 surveillance systems were complemented by a participatory surveillance system called “LeCellPHIA” (Lesotho Cell phone Population-based HIV Impact Assessment Survey). Participatory surveillance is when a public population at risk reports symptoms using technology.

Diabetic macular edema (DME), a leading cause of blindness, requires treatment with costly drugs, such as anti–vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) agents. The prolonged use of these effective but expensive drugs results in an incremental economic burden for patients with DME compared with those with diabetes mellitus (DM) without DME. However, there are no studies on the long-term patient-centered economic burden of DME after reimbursement for anti-VEGFs.

Several studies have investigated the relationship between ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) and COVID-19 infection. However, complex and conflicting results have generated confusion in the application of these results.

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Increasing physical inactivity is a primary risk factor for diabetes and hypertension, contributing to rising healthcare expenditure and productivity losses. As Singapore's ageing population grows, there is an increased disease burden on her health systems. Large-scale physical activity interventions could potentially reduce the disease burden but face challenges in the uncertainty of long-term health impact and high implementation costs, hindering their adoption.