PharmacoEconomics
Volume 34, Issue 2, February 2016
http://link.springer.com/journal/40273/34/2/page/1
Big Data Themed Issue

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Editorial
Big Data and Its Role in Health Economics and Outcomes Research: A Collection of Perspectives on Data Sources, Measurement, and Analysis
Eberechukwu Onukwugha
Initial text
Health economists and outcomes researchers have watched the term ‘big data’ increase in prominence over the last several years. However, to date, the use of big data in medicine has not been concretely illustrated across a variety of health economics and outcomes research (HEOR). At the same time, many of the same observers agree that fundamental questions remain unanswered and include (1) “What does the term ‘big data’ mean?” and (2) “What does the availability of big data mean for individuals who produce and use findings from HEOR?” This editorial tackles the first question and leaves contributors to this issue of PharmacoEconomics to discuss the promises, possibilities and potential pitfalls of using big data in HEOR….

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Current Opinion
Big Data and Health Economics: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats
Brendan Collins
Abstract
‘Big data’ is the collective name for the increasing capacity of information systems to collect and store large volumes of data, which are often unstructured and time stamped, and to analyse these data by using regression and other statistical techniques. This is a review of the potential applications of big data and health economics, using a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) approach. In health economics, large pseudonymized databases, such as the planned care.data programme in the UK, have the potential to increase understanding of how drugs work in the real world, taking into account adherence, co-morbidities, interactions and side effects. This ‘real-world evidence’ has applications in individualized medicine. More routine and larger-scale cost and outcomes data collection will make health economic analyses more disease specific and population specific but may require new skill sets. There is potential for biomonitoring and lifestyle data to inform health economic analyses and public health policy.