Institute of German Dentists, Cologne, Germany.
Department of Preventive and Social Dentistry, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
J Dent Res. 2024 Oct;103(11):1047-1050. doi: 10.1177/00220345241272034. Epub 2024 Oct 2.
Epidemiology is experiencing a significant shift toward the utilization of big data for health monitoring and decision-making. This article discusses the recent example of the World Health Organization (WHO) global oral health status report and regional summaries, which faced criticisms due to its reliance on big data from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study. We address the arguments for and against the use of big data in epidemiology and provide an assessment of the value and limitations of big data epidemiology. Moreover, we provide recommendations as to how the oral health community should reconcile traditional epidemiologic approaches with big data and advanced data analytics. This Perspective article highlights the challenges of the current epidemiologic landscape, the potential of big data, and the need for a balanced approach to data utilization in epidemiology.
流行病学正朝着利用大数据进行健康监测和决策制定的方向发生重大转变。本文讨论了世界卫生组织（WHO）全球口腔健康状况报告和区域摘要的最新实例，该报告因依赖全球疾病负担（GBD）研究的大数据而受到批评。我们讨论了在流行病学中使用大数据的利弊，并对大数据流行病学的价值和局限性进行了评估。此外，我们还就口腔健康界如何将传统流行病学方法与大数据和高级数据分析相结合提出了建议。本文观点强调了当前流行病学领域的挑战、大数据的潜力以及在流行病学中平衡数据利用的必要性。
