Big data in health: A new era for research and patient care

摘要

The past decade has witnessed an explosion of electronic health data. Diagnostic images, lab results, and biometric information are generated and stored in digital form. Key elements of medical records are abstracted using natural language processing. Medical claims provide a treasure trove of longitudinal data. Those who bring these disparate threads together and apply them to real-life situations have created the next big thing in health care: big data.