Cited by 406Mobile Health and mHealth ApplicationsDigital Mental Health InterventionsContext-Aware Activity Recognition Systems

Systematic review of smartphone-based passive sensing for health and wellbeing

Open access
Cornet, Victor P., Holden, Richard J.·2018·Journal of Biomedical Informatics

Abstract

Objective To review published empirical literature on the use of smartphone-based passive sensing for health and wellbeing.Material and methods A systematic review of the English language literature was performed following PRISMA guidelines. Papers indexed in computing, technology, and medical databases were included if they were empirical, focused on health and/or wellbeing, involved the collection of data via smartphones, and described the utilized technology as passive or requiring minimal user interaction.Results Thirty-five papers were included in the review. Studies were performed around the world, with samples of up to 171 (median n = 15) representing individuals with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, depression, older adults, and the general population. The majority of studies used the Android operating system and an array of smartphone sensors, most frequently capturing accelerometry, location, audio, and usage data. Captured data were usually sent to a remote server for processing but were shared with participants in only 40% of studies. Reported benefits of passive sensing included accurately detecting changes in status, behavior change through feedback, and increased accountability in participants. Studies reported facing technical, methodological, and privacy challenges.Discussion Studies in the nascent area of smartphone-based passive sensing for health and wellbeing demonstrate promise and invite continued research and investment. Existing studies suffer from weaknesses in research design, lack of feedback and clinical integration, and inadequate attention to privacy issues. Key recommendations relate to developing passive sensing strategies matching the problem at hand, using personalized interventions, and addressing methodological and privacy challenges.Conclusion As evolving passive sensing technology presents new possibilities for health and wellbeing, additional research must address methodological, clinical integration, and privacy issues. Doing so depends on interdisciplinary collaboration between informatics and clinical experts.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.jbi.2017.12.008

Cites

90 of 90 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Multimodal and intensive sampling data streams might be particularly promising inputs for machine learning models because these models can often handle many correlated predictors.

    “Multimodal and intensive sampling data streams (for example, experience sampling and passive measures gathered through smartphones and other electronic devices) used in some MBI studies133 and mental health research broadly134,135 might be particularly promising inputs for machine learning models, given that these models can often handle many correlated predictors136.”

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 4

  1. [50]Min J-K Doryab A Wiese J Amini S Zimmerman J Hong JI Toss ‘N’ Turn: Smartphone as Sleep and Sleep Quality Detector Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Toronto, Ontario, Canada ACM 2014 477 86
  2. [54]Rabbi M Aung MH Zhang M Choudhury T MyBehavior: Automatic Personalized Health Feedback from User Behaviors and Preferences Using Smartphones Proceedings of the 2015 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing Osaka, Japan ACM 2015 707 18
  3. [95]Smartphone New Oxford American Dictionary Oxford University Press 2017
  4. [96]Microphone New Oxford American Dictionary Oxford University Press 2017

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Cornet, V. P., & Holden, R. J.
Affiliations
  • Indiana University Indianapolis (US)
  • Regenstrief Institute (US)
Corresponding author
Holden, Richard J.
Venue
Journal of Biomedical Informatics
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2018-01
Volume
77
Pages
120-132
ISSN
1532-0464 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2775819279
Cited by
406
References
90
Citations by year
2026: 50 · 2025: 52 · 2024: 51 · 2023: 49 · 2022: 55 · 2021: 52 · 2020: 48 · 2019: 29 · 2018: 20
FWCI
4.72
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of Biomedical Informatics (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • Purdue University Indianapolis (Indiana University) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institute on Aging
  • National Institutes of Health (K01AG044439)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Mobile Health and mHealth Applications
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition › Context-Aware Activity Recognition Systems
Keywords
health monitoring, well-being, smartphone sensors, accelerometry, location data, audio data, usage data, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, depression, older adults, privacy, clinical integration, personalized interventions
MeSH terms
Behavior Observation Techniques, Data Accuracy, Smartphone, Confidentiality, Health Status, Humans, Mental Health, Health Behavior, Monitoring, Ambulatory, Mobile Applications

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review