Health and Healthcare in an Era of Big Data

A visiting lecturer reminded her audience Sunday that networks matter when dealing with health
and health care in todays world.

Bernice A. Pescosolido is a professor of sociology at Indiana University as well as the director of

the Indiana Consortium for Mental Health Services Research. Pescosolido is also co-director of
the IU Network Science Institute.

The title of the lecture was Facing Complexity In Health and Healthcare in an Era of Big Data.

"I say networks matter at least once a day, said Pescosolido. Highlighting the importance she
feels looking at different influences on health has.

These influences, or networks, are genes-to-global, meaning that they include everything
from biology to life course to society.

Monitoring these networks is important when it comes to health and health care. Social
conditions are important and it is important how patients received service and medication, which
doctors have often ignored, said Pescosolido.

One of the main ways that networks effects on health care can be illustrated is by studying
suicide rates. This is one of Pescosolidos areas of expertise.

Studying suicide rates by researching everything, from the geography to the genetics, that
correlate with suicide one can understand how risks change for different people in different
situations, according to Pescosolido.
 Using these approaches allows medical professionals to provide more comprehensive
care for patients. It allows them to identify people who are at potentially higher risk of medical
conditions and help prevent and treat them early.

Big data can be used to study these big networks according to Pescosolido. For example, using
things such as census data and national suicide rates allows researchers to find correlations
between certain lifestyle factors and suicide rates in the U.S.

This data gives researchers a starting point for figuring out how to address health care issues
according to Pescosolido.

While this census data is extremely helpful for researchers, much of it is on the chopping block
under the new administration, according to Pescosolido.

While the census is protected under the constitution, it may be cut down to not collect the same
amount of information as it has come to, Pescosolido said. If the census were cut down it would
make health care research more difficult.