Real-world data for precision public health of noncommunicable diseases: a scoping review

BACKGROUND: Global public health action to address noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) requires new approaches. NCDs are primarily prevented and managed in the community where there is little investment in digital health systems and analytics; this has created a data chasm and relatively silent burden of disease. The nascent but rapidly emerging area of precision public health offers exciting new opportunities to transform our approach to NCD prevention. Precision public health uses routinely collected real-world data on determinants of health (social, environmental, behavioural, biomedical and commercial) to inform precision decision-making, interventions and policy based on social position, equity and disease risk, and continuously monitors outcomes – the right intervention for the right population at the right time. This scoping review aims to identify global exemplars of precision public health and the data sources and methods of their aggregation/application to NCD prevention. METHODS: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for scoping reviews (PRISMA-ScR) was followed. Six databases were systematically searched for articles published until February 2021. Articles were included if they described digital aggregation of real-world data and ‘traditional’ data for applied community, population or public health management of NCDs. Real-world data was defined as routinely collected (1) Clinical, Medication and Family History (2) Claims/Billing (3) Mobile Health (4) Environmental (5) Social media (6) Molecular profiling (7) Patient-centred (e.g., personal health record). Results were analysed descriptively and mapped according to the three horizons framework for digital health transformation. RESULTS: Six studies were included. Studies developed population health surveillance methods and tools using diverse real-world data (e.g., electronic health records and health insurance providers) and traditional data (e.g., Census and administrative databases) for precision surveillance of 28 NCDs. Population health analytics were applied consistently with descriptive, geospatial and temporal functions. Evidence of using surveillance tools to create precision public health models of care or improve policy and practice decisions was unclear. CONCLUSIONS: Applications of real-world data and designed data to address NCDs are emerging with greater precision. Digital transformation of the public health sector must be accelerated to create an efficient and sustainable predict-prevent healthcare system. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-022-14452-7.