What inherent bias does a smartphone-derived digital biomarker introduce regarding access?
Digital equity concerns, skewing results towards individuals owning and using that technology.
A major consideration in the widespread adoption of digital health measures centers on fairness and access. Because smartphone-derived biomarkers rely on the individual owning and actively using that specific technology, the resulting dataset is inherently biased. This means the sample population may overrepresent individuals with higher socioeconomic status or better technological access, potentially skewing the measurement results when those findings are applied to the broader, diverse patient population. Successfully implementing these tools requires careful weighting or supplementing with traditional methods to counteract this bias related to digital equity.
