Background: Internet use exhibits diverse trajectories during adolescence, which may contribute to depressive symptoms. Currently, it remains unclear whether the association between internet use trajectories and depressive symptoms varies between urban and rural areas.
Objective: This study aimed to investigate the association between internet use trajectories and adolescent depressive symptoms and to explore variation in this association between urban and rural areas.
Methods: This longitudinal study used 3-wave data from the 2014-2018 China Family Panel Study. Weekly hours of internet use and depressive symptoms were measured using self-reported questionnaires. Latent class growth modeling was performed to identify the trajectories of internet use. Multivariable logistic regressions were used to examine the association between internet use trajectories and depressive symptoms, stratified by rural and urban residence.
Results: Participants were 2237 adolescents aged 10 to 15 years at baseline (mean age 12.46, SD 1.73 years). Two latent trajectory classes of internet use were identified: the low-growth group (n=2008, 89.8%) and the high-growth group (n=229, 10.2%). The high-growth group was associated with higher odds of depressive symptoms (OR 1.486, 95% CI 1.065-2.076) compared to the low-growth group. In the stratified analysis, the association between internet use trajectories and depressive symptoms was significant solely among rural adolescents (OR 1.856, 95% CI 1.164-2.959).
Conclusions: This study elucidates urban-rural differences in the associations between trajectories of internet use and adolescent depressive symptoms. Our findings underscore the importance of prioritizing interventions for rural adolescents' internet use behaviors to mitigate negative effects on their mental health.
Background: Data sharing plays a crucial role in health informatics, contributing to improving health information systems, enhancing operational efficiency, informing policy and decision-making, and advancing public health surveillance including disease tracking. Sharing individual participant data in public, environmental, and occupational health trials can help improve public trust and support by enhancing transparent reporting and reproducibility of research findings. The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) requires all papers to include a data-sharing statement. However, it is unclear whether journals in the field of public, environmental, and occupational health adhere to this requirement.
Objective: This study aims to investigate whether public, environmental, and occupational health journals requested data-sharing statements from clinical trials submitted for publication.
Methods: In this bibliometric survey of "Public, Environmental, and Occupational Health" journals, defined by the Journal Citation Reports (as of June 2023), we included 202 journals with clinical trial reports published between 2019 and 2022. The primary outcome was a journal request for a data-sharing statement, as identified in the paper submission instructions. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was conducted to evaluate the relationship between journal characteristics and journal requests for data-sharing statements, with results presented as odds ratios (ORs) and corresponding 95% CIs. We also investigated whether the journals included a data-sharing statement in their published trial reports.
Results: Among the 202 public, environmental, and occupational health journals included, there were 68 (33.7%) journals that did not request data-sharing statements. Factors significantly associated with journal requests for data-sharing statements included open access status (OR 0.43, 95% CI 0.19-0.97), high journal impact factor (OR 2.31, 95% CI 1.15-4.78), endorsement of Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (OR 2.43, 95% CI 1.25-4.79), and publication in the United Kingdom (OR 7.18, 95% CI 2.61-23.4). Among the 134 journals requesting data-sharing statements, 26.9% (36/134) did not have statements in their published trial reports.
Conclusions: Over one-third of the public, environmental, and occupational health journals did not request data-sharing statements in clinical trial reports. Among those journals that requested data-sharing statements in their submission guidance pages, more than one quarter published trial reports with no data-sharing statements. These results revealed an inadequate practice of requesting data-sharing statements by public, environmental, and occupational health journals, requiring more effort at the journal level to implement ICJME recommendations on data-sharing statements.
Background: ChatGPT, a conversational artificial intelligence developed by OpenAI, has rapidly become an invaluable tool for researchers. With the recent integration of Python code interpretation into the ChatGPT environment, there has been a significant increase in the potential utility of ChatGPT as a research tool, particularly in terms of data analysis applications.
Objective: This study aimed to assess ChatGPT as a data analysis tool and provide researchers with a framework for applying ChatGPT to data management tasks, descriptive statistics, and inferential statistics.
Methods: A subset of the National Inpatient Sample was extracted. Data analysis trials were divided into data processing, categorization, and tabulation, as well as descriptive and inferential statistics. For data processing, categorization, and tabulation assessments, ChatGPT was prompted to reclassify variables, subset variables, and present data, respectively. Descriptive statistics assessments included mean, SD, median, and IQR calculations. Inferential statistics assessments were conducted at varying levels of prompt specificity ("Basic," "Intermediate," and "Advanced"). Specific tests included chi-square, Pearson correlation, independent 2-sample t test, 1-way ANOVA, Fisher exact, Spearman correlation, Mann-Whitney U test, and Kruskal-Wallis H test. Outcomes from consecutive prompt-based trials were assessed against expected statistical values calculated in Python (Python Software Foundation), SAS (SAS Institute), and RStudio (Posit PBC).
Results: ChatGPT accurately performed data processing, categorization, and tabulation across all trials. For descriptive statistics, it provided accurate means, SDs, medians, and IQRs across all trials. Inferential statistics accuracy against expected statistical values varied with prompt specificity: 32.5% accuracy for "Basic" prompts, 81.3% for "Intermediate" prompts, and 92.5% for "Advanced" prompts.
Conclusions: ChatGPT shows promise as a tool for exploratory data analysis, particularly for researchers with some statistical knowledge and limited programming expertise. However, its application requires careful prompt construction and human oversight to ensure accuracy. As a supplementary tool, ChatGPT can enhance data analysis efficiency and broaden research accessibility.
Sensor-based digital health technologies (sDHTs) are increasingly used to support scientific and clinical decision-making. The digital clinical measures they generate offer enormous benefits, including providing more patient-relevant data, improving patient access, reducing costs, and driving inclusion across health care ecosystems. Scientific best practices and regulatory guidance now provide clear direction to investigators seeking to evaluate sDHTs for use in different contexts. However, the quality of the evidence reported for analytical validation of sDHTs-evaluation of algorithms converting sample-level sensor data into a measure that is clinically interpretable-is inconsistent and too often insufficient to support a particular digital measure as fit-for-purpose. We propose a hierarchical framework to address challenges related to selecting the most appropriate reference measure for conducting analytical validation and codify best practices and an approach that will help capture the greatest value of sDHTs for public health, patient care, and medical product development.
Background: The use of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) in the hospital setting is growing, with more patients using these devices at home, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Frail and critically ill patients with COVID-19 and previously normal glucose tolerance are also associated with variability in their glucose levels during their intensive care unit (ICU) stay. However, very limited evidence supports the use of CGM in ICU settings, especially among frail patients with COVID-19.
Objective: We aimed to investigate the effectiveness of CGM on ICU-related outcomes among frail and critically ill patients with confirmed COVID-19.
Methods: This was an exploratory, prospective, open-label, parallel, single-center, randomized controlled trial. A total of 124 patients was finally analyzed. The primary outcome was 28-day, in-ICU mortality. The secondary outcome included the length of ICU stay as well as the occurrence of hypoglycemia and severe hypoglycemia events.
Results: The mean age was 78.3 (SD 11.5) years. The mean fasting glucose level and hemoglobin A1c level at baseline were 8.12 (SD 1.54) mmol/L and 7.2% (SD 0.8%), respectively. The percentage of participants with diabetes was 30.6% (38/124). The corresponding hazard ratio of the primary outcome in the intermittently scanned CGM (isCGM) group when compared with the point-of-care testing (POCT) group was 0.18 (95% CI 0.04-0.79). The average length of ICU stay was 10.0 (SD 7.57) days in the isCGM group and 14.0 (SD 6.86) days in the POCT group (P=.02). At the end of study period, the mean value of fasting glucose in the isCGM group and the POCT group was 6.07 (SD 0.63) mmol/L and 7.76 (SD 0.62) mmol/L, respectively (P=.01). A total of 207 hypoglycemia events (<3.9 mmol/L) was detected, with 43 in the isCGM group and 164 in the POCT group (P<.001). A total of 81 severe hypoglycemia events (<2.8 mmol/L) was detected, with 16 in the isCGM group and 65 in the POCT group (P<.001). The major adverse event in this study was bleeding in the puncture site, with a total of 6 occurrences in the isCGM group. During the follow-up, none of the participants dropped out because of bleeding in the puncture site.
Conclusions: We found a significant clinical benefit from the use of CGM among frail and critically ill patients with COVID-19. These findings support the use of CGM in the ICU and might help with the extension of application in various in-hospital settings.
Trial registration: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry ChiCTR2200059733; https://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.html?proj=169257.