An Edge Based Framework for Risk Assessment of Communicable Disease

Along with the development of edge computing and Artificial Intelligence (AI), there has been an explosion of health-care system. As COVID-19 spread globally, the pandemic created significant challenges for the global health system. Therefore, we proposed an edge-based framework for risk assessment of communicable disease called CDM-FL. The CDM-FL consists of two modules, the common data model (CDM) and federated learning (FL). The CDM can process and store multi-source heterogeneous data with standardized semantics and schema. This provides more data for model training using medical data globally. The model is deployed on edge nodes that can measure patients' status locally and with low latency. It also keeps patient privacy from being disclosed that patient are more likely to share their medical data. The results based on real-world data show that CDM-FL can help physicians to evaluate the risk of communicable disease as well as save lives during severe epidemic situations. © 2022 IEEE.

Integrating real-world data from Brazil and Pakistan into the OMOP common data model and standardized health analytics framework to characterize COVID-19 in the Global South.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this work is to demonstrate the use of a standardized health informatics framework to generate reliable and reproducible real-world evidence from Latin America and South Asia towards characterizing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the Global South. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patient-level COVID-19 records collected in a patient self-reported notification system, hospital in-patient and out-patient records, and community diagnostic labs were harmonized to the Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership common data model and analyzed using a federated network analytics framework. Clinical characteristics of individuals tested for, diagnosed with or tested positive for, hospitalized with, admitted to intensive care unit with, or dying with COVID-19 were estimated. RESULTS: Two COVID-19 databases covering 8.3 million people from Pakistan and 2.6 million people from Bahia, Brazil were analyzed. 109 504 (Pakistan) and 921 (Brazil) medical concepts were harmonized to Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership common data model. In total, 341 505 (4.1%) people in the Pakistan dataset and 1 312 832 (49.2%) people in the Brazilian dataset were tested for COVID-19 between January 1, 2020 and April 20, 2022, with a median [IQR] age of 36 [25, 76] and 38 (27, 50); 40.3% and 56.5% were female in Pakistan and Brazil, respectively. 1.2% percent individuals in the Pakistan dataset had Afghan ethnicity. In Brazil, 52.3% had mixed ethnicity. In agreement with international findings, COVID-19 outcomes were more severe in men, elderly, and those with underlying health conditions. CONCLUSIONS: COVID-19 data from 2 large countries in the Global South were harmonized and analyzed using a standardized health informatics framework developed by an international community of health informaticians. This proof-of-concept study demonstrates a potential open science framework for global knowledge mobilization and clinical translation for timely response to healthcare needs in pandemics and beyond.