@Article{info:doi/10.2196/32587,
author="Stewart, Callum
and Ranjan, Yatharth
and Conde, Pauline
and Rashid, Zulqarnain
and Sankesara, Heet
and Bai, Xi
and Dobson, Richard J B
and Folarin, Amos A",
title="Investigating the Use of Digital Health Technology to Monitor COVID-19 and Its Effects: Protocol for an Observational Study (Covid Collab Study)",
journal="JMIR Res Protoc",
year="2021",
month="Dec",
day="8",
volume="10",
number="12",
pages="e32587",
keywords="mobile health; COVID-19; digital health; smartphone; wearable devices; mental health; wearable; data; crowdsourced; monitoring; surveillance; observational; feasibility; infectious disease; recovery; mobile phone",
abstract="Background: The ubiquity of mobile phones and increasing use of wearable fitness trackers offer a wide-ranging window into people's health and well-being. There are clear advantages in using remote monitoring technologies to gain an insight into health, particularly under the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic. Objective: Covid Collab is a crowdsourced study that was set up to investigate the feasibility of identifying, monitoring, and understanding the stratification of SARS-CoV-2 infection and recovery through remote monitoring technologies. Additionally, we will assess the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated social measures on people's behavior, physical health, and mental well-being. Methods: Participants will remotely enroll in the study through the Mass Science app to donate historic and prospective mobile phone data, fitness tracking wearable data, and regular COVID-19--related and mental health--related survey data. The data collection period will cover a continuous period (ie, both before and after any reported infections), so that comparisons to a participant's own baseline can be made. We plan to carry out analyses in several areas, which will cover symptomatology; risk factors; the machine learning--based classification of illness; and trajectories of recovery, mental well-being, and activity. Results: As of June 2021, there are over 17,000 participants---largely from the United Kingdom---and enrollment is ongoing. Conclusions: This paper introduces a crowdsourced study that will include remotely enrolled participants to record mobile health data throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The data collected may help researchers investigate a variety of areas, including COVID-19 progression; mental well-being during the pandemic; and the adherence of remote, digitally enrolled participants. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/32587 ",
issn="1929-0748",
doi="10.2196/32587",
url="https://www.researchprotocols.org/2021/12/e32587",
url="https://doi.org/10.2196/32587",
url="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34784292"
}