Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38649446›Full record

ArticleNpj mental health research2024

Measuring algorithmic bias to analyze the reliability of AI tools that predict depression risk using smartphone sensed-behavioral data.

Daniel A Adler, Caitlin A Stamatis, Jonah Meyerhoff, David C Mohr, Fei Wang, Gabriel J Aranovich, Srijan Sen, Tanzeem Choudhury

Open access · diamondAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Npj mental health research, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
18citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
8.2field-weighted citation impact, top 2% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

18 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 20 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Towards Human-Centered Digital Health Interventions.The Psychiatric clinics of North America · 2026
    Review
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  16. Beyond Detection: Towards Actionable Sensing Research in Clinical Mental Healthcare.Proceedings of the ACM on interactive, mobile, wearable and ubiquitous technologies · 2024
    Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.

Daniel A AdlerCornell Tech, Information Science, 2 W Loop Rd, New York, NY, 10044, USA. daa243@cornell.edu.
Caitlin A StamatisNorthwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Center for Behavioral Intervention Technologies, Chicago, IL, 60611, USA.
Jonah MeyerhoffNorthwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Center for Behavioral Intervention Technologies, Chicago, IL, 60611, USA.
David C MohrNorthwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Center for Behavioral Intervention Technologies, Chicago, IL, 60611, USA.
Fei WangWeill Cornell Medicine, Population Health Sciences, New York, NY, 10065, USA.
Gabriel J AranovichCornell Tech, Information Science, 2 W Loop Rd, New York, NY, 10044, USA.
Srijan SenMichigan Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA.
Tanzeem ChoudhuryCornell Tech, Information Science, 2 W Loop Rd, New York, NY, 10044, USA.
Cornell University · USBehavioral Tech · USMichigan Medicine · USNorthwestern University · USWeill Cornell Medicine · US

Funding

Technology Enabled Services for Coordinated Care of Depression in Healthcare SettingsP50MH119029 · NIMH · NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY AT CHICAGO · PI Jessica Lee Schleider · 2020 to 2026
$10.7M
LifeSense: Transforming Behavioral Assessment of Depression Using Personal Sensing TechnologyR01MH111610 · NIMH · NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY AT CHICAGO · PI KORDING, KONRAD P., MOHR, DAVID CURTIS · 2017 to 2020
$3.2M
Multidisciplinary Training Program in Digital Mental HealthT32MH115882 · NIMH · NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY AT CHICAGO · PI Darren Gergle, DAVID CURTIS MOHR · 2018 to 2026
$2.4M
mHealth for suicide prevention: Design, development, and feasibility of a scalable SMS-based safety planning interventionK08MH128640 · NIMH · NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY AT CHICAGO · PI Jonah Meyerhoff · 2022 to 2026
$1.0M
NIMH NIH HHS K08 MH128640NIMH NIH HHS K08MH128640NIMH NIH HHS P50 MH119029NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH111610NIMH NIH HHS R01MH111610NIMH NIH HHS T32 MH115882NIMH NIH HHS T32MH115882
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

AI tools intend to transform mental healthcare by providing remote estimates of depression risk using behavioral data collected by sensors embedded in smartphones. While these tools accurately predict elevated depression symptoms in small, homogenous populations, recent studies show that these tools are less accurate in larger, more diverse populations. In this work, we show that accuracy is reduced because sensed-behaviors are unreliable predictors of depression across individuals: sensed-behaviors that predict depression risk are inconsistent across demographic and socioeconomic subgroups. We first identified subgroups where a developed AI tool underperformed by measuring algorithmic bias, where subgroups with depression were incorrectly predicted to be at lower risk than healthier subgroups. We then found inconsistencies between sensed-behaviors predictive of depression across these subgroups. Our findings suggest that researchers developing AI tools predicting mental health from sensed-behaviors should think critically about the generalizability of these tools, and consider tailored solutions for targeted populations.

Identifiers

PMID38649446
PMCPMC11035598
OpenAlexW4395010721

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.