Epidemiology is experiencing a significant shift toward the utilization of big data for health monitoring and decision-making. This article discusses the recent example of the World Health Organization (WHO) global oral health status report and regional summaries, which faced criticisms due to its reliance on big data from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study. We address the arguments for and against the use of big data in epidemiology and provide an assessment of the value and limitations of big data epidemiology. Moreover, we provide recommendations as to how the oral health community should reconcile traditional epidemiologic approaches with big data and advanced data analytics. This Perspective article highlights the challenges of the current epidemiologic landscape, the potential of big data, and the need for a balanced approach to data utilization in epidemiology.

中文翻译：

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流行病学中的大数据：美丽新世界？


流行病学正在经历向利用大数据进行健康监测和决策的重大转变。本文讨论了世界卫生组织 （WHO） 全球口腔健康状况报告和区域摘要的最新示例，该报告由于依赖全球疾病负担 （GBD） 研究的大数据而受到批评。我们讨论了在流行病学中支持和反对使用大数据的论点，并评估了大数据流行病学的价值和局限性。此外，我们还就口腔健康界应如何将传统流行病学方法与大数据和高级数据分析相协调提供了建议。这篇 Perspective 文章重点介绍了当前流行病学形势的挑战、大数据的潜力以及流行病学中对数据利用采取平衡方法的需求。