There is much work to be done to simplify the use of big data in healthcare for the ultimate benefit of patients, but researchers are making huge progress and addressing privacy and other concerns. Writing in the International Journal of Cloud Computing, a team from India suggests that the knowledge and insights that emerge from our use of big data in medical research, diagnostics, and dispensing will save lives as well as hopefully reducing the costs associated with healthcare provision.
R. Vijay Anand and Iyapparaja Meenakshisundaram of the School of Information Technology and Engineering at Vellore Institute of Technology in Vellore, R. Jothikumar of the Department of CSE at Shadan College of Engineering and Technology in Peerancheru, Hyderabad, and P. Krishna Chaitanya of the Ramachandra College of Engineering in Eluru, Andhra Pradesh discuss the issues surrounding healthcare big data in detail.
The researchers suggest that the statistical tools and analyses that are allowing us to handle big data ever more efficiently and effectively is, in many places, already feeding into the clinical environment. They add that big data, of course, is useful even earlier in the healthcare process, improving trials and research itself. They point out that on the other side of the ecosystem, it might even be used to reduce the incidence of healthcare insurance fraud and other related problems.
The team has reviewed many of the tools, such as machine learning tools, available to big data scientists in the context of healthcare with a focus on cardiovascular diseases, cancer, asthma, and other conditions.
Anand, R.V, Meenakshisundaram, I., Jothikumar, R. and Chaitanya, P.K. (2022) ‘Big data in healthcare made simple to save people’s lives’, Int. J. Cloud Computing, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp.112–122.