Informatics

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the focus on health informatics and healthcare technology for policy makers and healthcare professionals worldwide. This book contains the 110 papers (from 160 submissions) accepted for the 18th annual International Conference on Informatics, Management, and Technology in Healthcare (ICIMTH 2020), held virtually in Athens, Greece, from 3 - 5 July 2020. The conference attracts scientists working in the field of Biomedical and Health Informatics from all continents, and this year it was held as a Virtual Conference, by means of teleconferencing, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent lockdown in many countries around the world. The call for papers for the conference started in December 2019, when signs of the new virus infection were not yet evident, so early submissions were on the usual topics as announced. But papers submitted after mid-March were mostly focused on the first results of the pandemic analysis with respect to informatics in different countries and with different perspectives of the spread of the virus and its influence on public health across the world. This book therefore includes papers on the topic of the COVID-19 pandemic in relation to informatics reporting from hospitals and institutions from around the world, including South Korea, Europe, and the USA. The book encompasses the field of biomedical and health informatics in a very broad framework, and the timely inclusion of papers on the current pandemic will make it of particular interest to all those involved in the provision of healthcare everywhere.

During recent years, the use of advanced data analysis methods has increased in clinical and epidemiological research. This book emphasizes the practical aspects of new data analysis methods, and provides insight into new challenges in biostatistics, epidemiology, health sciences, dentistry, and clinical medicine. This book provides a readable text, giving advice on the reporting of new data analytical methods and data presentation. The book consists of 13 articles. Each article is self-contained and may be read independently according to the needs of the reader. The book is essential reading for postgraduate students as well as researchers from medicine and other sciences where statistical data analysis plays a central role.

The internet provides a major source of exchanging health informationthrough online portals and new media. Internet users can access health sitesand online forums to obtain health information. In turn, these informationsources act as a catalyst for wellbeing and improving personal health carebehaviors and routines. Competent health institutions encourage the development of theseindividual behaviors that enable individuals to increase health empowerment and totake responsibility for their own health needs, diagnosis and treatment. Online Health Forums andServices: Benefits, Risks and Perspectives is an investigation of the useof online health forums and services. The author first introduces the reader tothe theories that define online social behaviors in terms of health careservices. The chapters following this introduction attempt to account for the variationsin online health care portal use and to what extent does social networkinginduce variations in health behaviors grounded in theory. A summary of mediaused for affecting health behavior change is also provided along with adiscussion of the socioeconomic attributes of the individuals most likely to beaffected in terms of their health behaviors. The book provides a comprehensive perspective that links the aspects ofthe micro-level use of the Internet for health purposes (accessing healthrelated websites, participation in health forums and networking sites) to themacro level practices of telemedicine. Readers will be able to understand thesocial and health characteristics of the different groups of patients andestimate the extent to which individuals in need of health and medicalinformation are taking advantage of the availability of information andcommunication platforms to improve their health, or if they are being left behind.This is a timely reference for healthcare professionals, researchers andconsultants involved in digital health care initiatives and public health administration who areseeking information about how access to online health information can influencelifestyles in a way that impacts human behavior in a positive, meaningful way.