A new study from a group of researchers at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine found social media data outperformed demographic data in predicting diseases, such as diabetes, anxiety and depression, Vice reports. The study's authors believe doctors could better diagnose and treat diseases if they had access to a patient’s social media accounts. The study analyzed the social media accounts of nearly 1,000 patients with their consent. While researchers anonymized the individuals’ identity, privacy advocates are concerned about the risks of health care records in relation to social media data. “If health records and social media data start to become more routinely linked, the privacy risks could be far more significant,” Open Rights Group Legal Officer Amy Shepherd said.
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