The Application of Internet-Based Sources for Public Health Surveillance (Infoveillance): Systematic Review

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Epidemiology
• Digital Health

Background:

• Public health surveillance relies on continuous data analysis for early warning systems and intervention impact.
• Internet-based sources (IBSs) present new opportunities for disease surveillance, health community exploration, and epidemic dynamics study, forming the basis of infodemiology or infoveillance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review research on the application of IBSs in public health surveillance (infodemiology/infoveillance).
• To analyze the limitations, targeted diseases, and common methods associated with IBSs in public health.

Main Methods:

• Conducted a systematic literature review of publications from 2012-2018.
• Focused on studies utilizing IBSs for public health surveillance, outbreak forecasting, disease characterization, and health-topic identification.
• Applied predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria for filtering search results.

Main Results:

• Reviewed 162 publications, with infectious diseases being the primary focus (66.7%).
• Search queries and social media were the most frequently used IBSs (95.1%).
• Identified limitations including lack of representativeness, biased age groups, and susceptibility to media events.

Conclusions:

• IBSs are valuable proxies for studying population illnesses, but disease suitability and online engagement levels require careful consideration.
• Understanding online population behavior and health information dissemination is crucial for public health.
• Analyzing online communication about illnesses can significantly benefit public health initiatives.