6 articles found

Broadband Access and Health Outcomes in FCC Priority Counties: A Longitudinal Analysis

Original Research

Broadband Access and Health Outcomes in FCC Priority Counties: A Longitudinal Analysis

24 February 2025

Background: The relationship between broadband access and health outcomes is an emerging field of interest within public health research. In an increasingly digital world, it is important to understand how to best allocate broadband resources to maximize health impact and decrease health disparities. This study specifically investigates how levels of broadband connectivity are associated with health metrics for conditions such as diabetes, obesity, and preventable hospitalizations in counties identified as ‘priority’ by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) due to their low broadband access and high rates of chronic disease. Objective: To understand the longitudinal relationship between broadband access and health outcomes in priority counties, specifically focusing on diabetes, obesity, and preventable hospitalizations. Methods: This study analyzes data from 171 FCC priority counties from 2013-2020. Using regression models, we explore how broadband metrics, including broadband subscriptions and download speed, along with county characteristics such as rurality and persistent poverty, predict health outcomes. Health outcomes of interest include diabetes prevalence, obesity rates, and preventable hospitalizations. Results: A 1 percentage point increase in broadband subscriptions was associated with a 0.5% decrease in the odds of diabetes prevalence (odds ratio [OR] 0.995, 95% Confidence Interval [CI] 0.992-0.997). No significant relationship was found between broadband and obesity rates and preventable hospitalizations. County disparities were evident, with counties experiencing persistent poverty showing a 10% increase in the odds of diabetes prevalence (OR 1.100, 95% CI 1.062-1.140) and a 20.3% increase in preventable hospitalizations (β=1.203, 95% CI 1.131-1.280, P<.001). Rural counties were predicted to have a 17.6% increase in the odds of obesity prevalence (OR 1.176, 95% CI 1.127-1.228) and a 15.1% increase in the odds of diabetes prevalence (OR 1.151, 95% CI 1.111-1.191). Conclusions: Our data suggests that increased access to broadband may be correlated with decreased rates of diabetes in FCC priority counties. The study highlights the variable relationship between broadband access and health outcomes and acknowledges health disparities in rural, persistent poverty counties. This analysis provides a baseline for understanding the dynamics between broadband and health in critical need areas. Such insights highlight how expanding broadband infrastructure, especially rural and impoverished regions where disease burden is high, may help reduce health disparities and improve healthcare service access. Future data can be incorporated to clarify causality and model how the adoption of broadband infrastructure may take time to facilitate telehealth usage and ultimately support improved health outcomes, and how these dynamics may differ depending on county characteristics.

Reese Green

Max von Franque

Melissa Martinez

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A Scoping Review of Health AI Controversies in the Grey Literature from 2013-2022

Original Research

A Scoping Review of Health AI Controversies in the Grey Literature from 2013-2022

22 February 2025

Objective This study aimed to 1) quantify the number of controversies related to health artificial intelligence (AI) development and deployment over the past 10 years, and 2) categorize health AI controversies by theme. Materials and Methods This study is a scoping review. We queried GoogleNews for articles meeting pre-specified inclusion and exclusion criteria related to health AI controversies. A total of 7508 articles were queried, with 76 articles ultimately meeting criteria. Articles were quantitatively evaluated for timing and coded according to both organizational involvement and the themes of the controversies described in the article. Results Of the 76 articles, 55% were published in 2019 and 2022. No articles were published before 2016. Privacy, AI accuracy, and AI bias were the most common themes. Oversight and conflict of interest were the least common themes. Google, Babylon, and Optum were the most discussed companies. Conclusions The results demonstrate concrete evidence for many of the theoretical concerns highlighted by patient and physician surveys as well as scholarly ethics research. However, the volume of articles over the past 10 years was small. It is possible that this study was too narrow in scope, that health AI has actually not yielded a large volume of controversial events, or that news organizations have insufficiently investigated potential health AI controversies. Further research is required to develop a more complete understanding of controversial activities in health AI.

Joshua M Faber

Chad Teven

Arturo Francisco Balaguer Townsend

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