%0 Journal Article
%@ 1438-8871
%I JMIR Publications
%V 22
%N 8
%P e18044
%T Data Heterogeneity: The Enzyme to Catalyze Translational Bioinformatics?
%A Cahan,Eli M
%A Khatri,Purvesh
%+ Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Stanford University, 1265 Welch Road, Medical School Office Building, X219, Stanford, CA, 94305, United States, 1 650 497 5281, pkhatri@stanford.edu
%K medical Informatics
%K health equity
%K health care disparities
%K population health
%K quality improvement
%K precision medicine
%D 2020
%7 12.8.2020
%9 Viewpoint
%J J Med Internet Res
%G English
%X Up to 95% of novel interventions demonstrating significant effects at the bench fail to translate to the bedside. In recent years, the windfalls of “big data” have afforded investigators more substrate for research than ever before. However, issues with translation have persisted: although countless biomarkers for diagnostic and therapeutic targeting have been proposed, few of these generalize effectively. We assert that inadequate heterogeneity in datasets used for discovery and validation causes their nonrepresentativeness of the diversity observed in real-world patient populations. This nonrepresentativeness is contrasted with advantages rendered by the solicitation and utilization of data heterogeneity for multisystemic disease modeling. Accordingly, we propose the potential benefits of models premised on heterogeneity to promote the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s Triple Aim. In an era of personalized medicine, these models can confer higher quality clinical care for individuals, increased access to effective care across all populations, and lower costs for the health care system.
%M 32784182
%R 10.2196/18044
%U https://www.jmir.org/2020/8/e18044
%U https://doi.org/10.2196/18044
%U http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32784182