Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40404544›Full record

ReviewThe Lancet. Digital health2025

When data disappear: public health pays as US policy strays.

Thomas McAndrew, Andrew A Lover, Garrik Hoyt, Maimuna S Majumder

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in The Lancet. Digital health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Thomas McAndrewDepartment of Biostatistics and Health Data Science, College of Health, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, USA. Electronic address: mcandrew@lehigh.edu.
Andrew A LoverDepartment of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, USA.
Garrik HoytDepartment of Computer Science and Engineering, PC Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, USA.
Maimuna S MajumderDepartment of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Computational Health Informatics Program, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.

Funding

Digital data streams and machine learning for real-time modeling of vaccine-preventable infectious diseasesR35GM146974 · NIGMS · BOSTON CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL · PI Maimuna Shahnaz Majumder · 2022 to 2026
$2.2M
NIGMS NIH HHS R35 GM146974
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Presidential actions on Jan 20, 2025, by President Donald Trump, including executive orders, have delayed access to or led to the removal of crucial public health data sources in the USA. The continuous collection and maintenance of health data support public health, safety, and security associated with diseases such as seasonal influenza. To show how public health data surveillance enhances public health practice, we analysed data from seven US Government-maintained sources associated with seasonal influenza. We fit two models that forecast the number of national incident influenza hospitalisations in the USA: (1) a data-rich model incorporating data from all seven Government data sources; and (2) a data-poor model built using a single Government hospitalisation data source, representing the minimal required information to produce a forecast of influenza hospitalisations. The data-rich model generated reliable forecasts useful for public health decision making, whereas the predictions using the data-poor model were highly uncertain, rendering them impractical. Thus, health data can serve as a transparent and standardised foundation to improve domestic and global health. Therefore, a plan should be developed to safeguard public health data as a public good.

Indexed as

Health PolicyInfluenza, HumanPublic HealthForecastingHospitalizationHumansUnited States

Identifiers

PMID40404544
PMCPMC12459990

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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.