Abstract
BackgroundCOVID-19 is impacting people worldwide and is currently a leading cause of death in many countries. Underlying factors, including Social Determinants of Health (SDoH), could contribute to these statistics. Our prior work has explored associations between SDoH and several adverse health outcomes (eg, asthma and obesity). Our findings reinforce the emerging consensus that SDoH factors should be considered when implementing intelligent public health surveillance solutions to inform public health policies and interventions.ObjectiveThis study sought to redefine the Healthy People 2030’s SDoH taxonomy to accommodate the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, we aim to provide a blueprint and implement a prototype for the Urban Population Health Observatory (UPHO), a web-based platform that integrates classified group-level SDoH indicators to individual- and aggregate-level population health data.MethodsThe process of building the UPHO involves collecting and integrating data from several sources, classifying the collected data into drivers and outcomes, incorporating data science techniques for calculating measurable indicators from the raw variables, and studying the extent to which interventions are identified or developed to mitigate drivers that lead to the undesired outcomes.ResultsWe generated and classified the indicators of social determinants of health, which are linked to COVID-19. To display the functionalities of the UPHO platform, we presented a prototype design to demonstrate its features. We provided a use case scenario for 4 different users.ConclusionsUPHO serves as an apparatus for implementing effective interventions and can be adopted as a global platform for chronic and infectious diseases. The UPHO surveillance platform provides a novel approach and novel insights into immediate and long-term health policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and other future public health crises. The UPHO assists public health organizations and policymakers in their efforts in reducing health disparities, achieving health equity, and improving urban population health.
Highlights
BackgroundCOVID-19 is a highly transmissible disease caused by SARS-CoV-2
COVID-19–positive cases or death rates were impacted by Social Determinants of Health (SDoH), such as transportation or commuting patterns [29], housing density [22,25], poverty [23,24], health care access [24,27], environmental conditions [6], language barriers [11], occupation [7,23], and residence in rural areas
We argue that determining the correct SDoH variables to measure both health disparities and the spread of diseases is a crucial first step in developing an intelligent surveillance system [34]
Summary
BackgroundCOVID-19 is a highly transmissible disease caused by SARS-CoV-2. COVID-19 has been one of the leading causes of death in many countries since December 2019 when it was first reported in Wuhan, China. The United States is among the countries leading in the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths. Underlying comorbid health conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cardiovascular disease, and cerebrovascular disease increase the risk of severe complications from COVID-19. These complications include acute respiratory failure, pneumonia, acute kidney or liver injury, blood clots, and possibly death [4,5]. We aim to provide a blueprint and implement a prototype for the Urban Population Health Observatory (UPHO), a web-based platform that integrates classified group-level SDoH indicators to individual- and aggregate-level population health data. The UPHO assists public health organizations and policymakers in their efforts in reducing health disparities, achieving health equity, and improving urban population health
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