Blog

Our Research, Analytics, and Learning team is exploring and analyzing data from our Evidation platform, where members contribute to research and help us uncover insights that could improve their health and the health of others.

During this year’s presidential election there was high voter turnout which included record-breaking numbers of mail-in ballots due to COVID-19. As we now know, this high volume of ballots required multiple days to count, so no final winner could be projected on Election Day. We decided to look at Evidation Members activity data to see what changes the election may have caused for our members.

We used Fitbit data contributed by Evidation Members, to explore sleep characteristics and schedules for the month leading up to Election Day in 2020. We looked specifically at the time that each member went to bed in their local timezone. Equivalent time periods in 2017–2019 were used for comparison. These periods were aligned across years based on week rather than calendar date, so that differences in weekend and weekday sleep cycles would line up. This also syncs the end of daylight saving time, which happened on November 1, 2020, the Sunday two days before Election Day, and temporarily shifts our sleep cycles earlier. Positioning the data in this way allows for appropriate comparisons of data across years.

So, did anything about our sleep change? This plot shows the average time Evidation Members started sleeping on the weeks leading up to and immediately after daylight saving time from 2017–2020:

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There is a clear weekly pattern: we go to bed later on Friday and Saturday nights, when we have a weekend day ahead of us. On daylight savings weekend we started sleeping slightly earlier as we adjusted to the end of daylight saving time, a trend which continues through the following week as we slowly adjust to going to bed later again. However, on Election Day 2020 this pattern was disrupted; bedtimes spiked up over 20 minutes from Sunday and Monday night.

You may also notice the interesting pattern of later bedtimes in 2017, leading up to daylight saving time. This lines up with Halloween night and games 6 and 7 of the 2017 World Series. We’ve examined the impact of the 2017 World Series on sleep in the past.

As we looked closer at our sleep data, we were curious to see if members on the East Coast stayed up later in their time zone than those on the West Coast while they waited for results, so we examined average bedtimes in each time zone. On election night, members on the East Coast stayed up the latest (11:51 PM), compared to members in the Central (11:39 PM), Mountain (11:39 PM), and Pacific (11:43 PM) time zones. Compared to the previous night, members in Eastern Standard Time stayed up 22 minutes later, Central Standard Time 20 minutes later, and Mountain Standard Time 23 minutes later, while members in Pacific Standard Time stayed up only 14 minutes later.

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Regardless of where we live, sleep is an important part of our health. Fortunately, later bedtimes due to the election were confined to Tuesday night. Bedtimes returned to normal after Election Day, as it became clear that election results would take at least several more days to be projected.

Did you stay up late on Election Day? If you have tips to reduce stress or improve sleep, we’d love to hear them.

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We are all looking forward to the end of the COVID-19 pandemic and the disruptions it’s caused in our lives. A safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine will form part of the public health strategy to help us reach this endpoint faster. As many organizations work to develop and release such a vaccine, we wanted to understand people’s evolving perceptions and behaviors related to COVID-19 and vaccinations. We launched the first set of surveys in our study in October, and are excited to share some preliminary results with you!

Objectives

This study’s goal is to describe people’s perceptions and behaviors around the COVID-19 vaccine. For example, what reasons do people have for getting or not getting the COVID-19 vaccine? How likely are they to get it once it’s released? Has the pandemic encouraged people to get the flu shot? This study will investigate whether and how these perceptions and behaviors change over time, as COVID-19 vaccines are developed and released.

Methods

To describe people’s perceptions and behaviors, and how those perceptions and behaviors change over time, we are asking for people’s input through a series of online surveys. These surveys will be sent throughout the development and release of COVID-19 vaccines.

So far, we’ve launched 2 surveys: one to understand the backgrounds of the people participating (for example, their demographics, where they live, whether they’re at risk for COVID-19), and one to characterize current perceptions and behaviors. We have started analyzing the data collected between October 9th, 2020 and November 11th, 2020. We won’t be able to understand how perceptions and behaviors have changed until we launch the next survey, but we can start to describe how people are currently feeling about the COVID-19 vaccine!

Preliminary Results

Here are some preliminary results from our first 2 surveys.

Participants

64,750 people (“participants”) have completed the first perceptions and behaviors survey. Mean age was 38.5 (SD: 11.7 years), and the majority of participants identified as female (79.7%) and identified as white (80.0%).

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All 50 states (plus Puerto Rico and Washington, DC) are represented:

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Vaccination Likelihood, Motivators, and Barriers

On average, participants were on the fence in terms of likelihood of getting the COVID-19 vaccine when it’s released (mean=4.93, median=5). The distribution shows a wide range of opinions, with the largest numbers of people reporting at:

• 0 (“Very unlikely”): 18.8%
• 5: 13.6%
• 10 (“Very likely”): 14.3%

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The most common reasons people reported for getting the COVID-19 vaccine were to:

• help protect their family, friends, or community (59.9%)
• lower their chances of getting COVID-19 (56.7%)
• lower their chances of having to go to the doctor or getting hospitalized due to severe COVID-19 symptoms (53.7%)
• feel more comfortable spending time with their friends, family, or community (55.7%)

The most common reasons people had to not get vaccinated were because they were:

• concerned the vaccine is being approved too quickly (61.3%)
• concerned about possible side effects (60.1%)
• not sure the vaccine will be safe (56.2%)
• not sure the vaccine will be effective (57.0%)

Relative Vaccination Hesitancy

Most participants reported feeling more hesitant about the COVID-19 vaccine than other vaccines (68.0%), with 24.9% feeling equally hesitant and 7.1% feeling less hesitant:

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Vaccination Informedness

We’ve also found that people don’t feel particularly well-informed about the COVID-19 vaccine in general. 19.8% of participants report feeling “Not at all informed”, 22.7% “Slightly informed”, 30.4% “Moderately informed”, 19.2% “Informed”, and only 7.9% “Very informed”:

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Pandemic Influence on Flu Shot Plans and Behavior

The CDC has stressed that getting the flu shot this season is more important than ever, to help protect oneself and others and to minimize burden on the healthcare system. Many participants seem to agree: of the 35,997 participants who had not gotten the flu shot yet (or were unsure), 20.2% reported being more likely to get it this season due to the pandemic:

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Of the 28,753 participants who had gotten the flu shot, 20.0% reported that the pandemic encouraged them to get it, and 9.1% reported the pandemic was the primary reason they did so:

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We are excited to continue to investigate these current perceptions and behaviors and see how they change over the coming months!

Next Steps

To understand how people’s perceptions and behaviors related to COVID-19 vaccination evolve over the development and release of vaccines, we will send more surveys over the following months asking for Evidation Member’s perceptions and behaviors. These surveys will be sent as big events happen around the vaccine’s development, like its approval or release. The exact dates of these future surveys will depend on when these events happen, so stay tuned for more!

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Don’t let summer pass you by this year! We chatted with our team and consolidated some of our favorite activities.

1. Connect with brainy folks all around the world with Atlas Obscura’s Trivia Night! Rally together a virtual team and participate for $7.
2. Celebrate Blues Artist Mavis Staples and listen to other folk artists including Brandi Carlile, Jason Isbell, Ben Harper, and Phoebe Bridgers for a Livestream concert. Tickets cost $12. Tune in this Friday, July 31st at 8:30pm EST.
3. Join host Saleem Reshamwala as he goes on global expeditions and learns from people around the world who are creatively working to make their communities better. Tune into this Ted podcast to transport to another world virtually in the absence of travel.
4. Host a virtual book club with friends. The benefit of talking about your latest read via Zoom or video chat is that you can connect with friends across time zones.
5. Jump on the geocaching bandwagon. We recently heard from some Achievers that they’ve been geocaching with their family members for an active, outdoor treasure hunt.
6. Make a box fort/cat castle for your cat children if you’re a cat mom or dad. :)
7. Set up a socially distanced front yard hang! Dust off your lawn chairs and pick up some of your favorite snacks and head outdoors.
8. Choose a road trip and safely travel to a closeby spot! Know you’re not alone in opting for a road trip as a staycation during these unusual times. Read up on some of the best road trips in America.
9. Host your very own hot sauce competition with your “quaranteam.” Find some new hot sauces you’ve always wanted to try online and order them in to have a mini hot sauce competition. Pro tip: the Heatonist has some of our favorites.
10. Channel your inner artist with a paint by number kit. Tune into a favorite playlist and enjoy a leisurely weekend art hour.

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Historically, minorities have been inadequately represented in research studies. We’re committed to enrolling a more diverse and representative population in Evidation for studies.

We’re collaborating with BlackDoctor.org to ensure that the effects of COVID-19 are investigated in a representative population.

We, in partnership with BlackDoctor.org and Myovant Sciences, have launched Forward Momentum, a cross-sector coalition working to improve the lives of men with prostate cancer. Forward Momentum is committed to addressing the complex set of challenges that hold back the representation, information, and conversations that all men deserve. By bringing together organizations from diverse sectors and investing in novel digital initiatives, Forward Momentum strives to accelerate progress for men with prostate cancer.

Stay tuned for more updates from us on these research efforts!

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Our CEO, Deborah Kilpatrick, recently spoke on a podcast about the importance of everyday behavior data and the future of health. After working in the medical technology space, she joined Evidation Health in 2014. Evidation partners with the world’s leading healthcare companies and enables everyone to participate in research. We’re focused on helping people measure everyday activities. We’re also invested in connecting our community to opportunities that will help them better understand the conditions that impact them and their loved ones. Listen more on this podcast here.

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At Evidation, we’re focused on meeting people where they are and helping them along their health journey. Our engaged community of members represents 96% of U.S. counties and includes individuals across ages, ethnicities, and socioeconomic backgrounds. This community puts us in a unique position to learn from one another and contribute to meaningful health research.

With a mission of helping people participate in better health outcomes, we're committed to identifying opportunities that are inclusive of all and educating ourselves on the social issues that are impacting the world. To truly achieve our mission of helping people participate in better health outcomes, we recognize we have more work to do. Our commitment going forward:

• Provide our members with educational content around health and race curated by our team of researchers.
• Put in place more inclusive study opportunities for members to participate in.
• Do our part as a research company to participate in inclusive clinical research practices to ensure diverse and generalizable results through diverse participant recruitment and participation.
• Hold ourselves accountable by reporting our progress out to our members.

We’re committed to supporting long-term systematic change and stand in solidarity with our Black teammates, Evidation Members, and the entire Black community. We know this is only the beginning of the conversation, and we need to continue to fight for equality. We’ll continue to listen, educate ourselves, take action, hold ourselves accountable, and pledge to do our best to support all communities to participate in better health outcomes.

An immediate change we’re pleased to share is that Evidation Members can now donate their rewards to these charities:

NAACP Legal Defense Fund

The Bail Project

Equal Justice Initiative

Center for Policing Equity

Loveland Foundation

American Civil Liberties Union

Black Girls Code

The Marshall Project

Southern Poverty Law Center

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Here at Evidation, we’ve been identifying opportunities to contribute to COVID research. THe Evidation app is a product of Evidation Health, and has a community of over 3 million and members all around the United States. With an engaged research population representing a variety of zip codes and demographics, we’re uniquely positioned to help researchers and organizations conduct meaningful research about the pandemic.

On June 4th, Evidation Health announced a new effort to develop an early warning algorithm to detect symptoms of COVID-19 and to understand susceptibility to infection, funded by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

“Many infected individuals are asymptomatic but still able to spread the virus, making efforts to prevent and slow transmission of COVID-19 difficult,” said Luca Foschini, Ph.D., Evidation’s co-founder and chief data scientist. “This initiative will use novel behavioral and physiological data to more effectively identify when and where people may contract COVID-19, and can potentially enable real-time interventions to limit spread and monitor outcomes.”

The analysis, performed in collaboration with non-profit 4YouandMe, will use de-identified data generated by self-reporting and wearable devices to track symptoms of COVID-19 in those at particularly high risk, including health care workers and other first responders, in order to better understand susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection. One potential outcome of this work is an early warning algorithm to help individuals better understand and monitor their respiratory disease symptoms and take precautions against their spread.

“The ability to self-monitor and be informed of health status will empower Americans in their decisions to help slow the spread of this pandemic and improve health outcomes for people with COVID-19,” said BARDA Acting Director, Gary Disbrow, Ph.D. “This pilot study is not only an early step in demonstrating the utility of models developed using person-generated health data but also may provide data to better understand the varied symptoms of COVID-19.”

This program follows Evidation’s work with BARDA to monitor individuals for respiratory infections, such as influenza. Evidation’s existing research on influenza utilizes person-generated health data and population-based models with the goal of improving real-time respiratory infection monitoring at the individual and population level. BARDA is contributing a $720,000 award as part of BARDA’s COVID-19 Rapidly Deployable Capabilities program to identify and pilot near-term innovative solutions for COVID-19. Support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is from the $250 million the foundation has committed to address the COVID-19 pandemic.

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We’ve been continuing to monitor sentiment in the community around the coronavirus through an Evidation Survey called COVID Pulse. Since kicking off the survey on March 12th right after the coronavirus was declared a pandemic, we’ve been sending out a weekly survey to our members.

We wanted to quantify participation and interest and share some of the latest trends from our most recent surveys. After we released the first survey, we received over 120,000+ responses in five days from over 20,000 United States zip codes. The highest percentage of responses came from the age groups in the range of 30–39, followed by the 18–29 age range, and lastly, the 40–49 range. Though, we did see representation from members ages 18–80+! We’ve been pleasantly surprised by the number of members who have continued to check in week over week to share their sentiment surrounding coronavirus. In fact, 11% of survey respondents have completed all five COVID Pulse Surveys to date and 22%+ completed four out of five COVID Pulse Surveys.

Most recently, we saw that over 85% of respondents said that if social distancing and stay at home orders were lifted today, they would know what to do to reduce chances of contracting the coronavirus. We also saw that members would continue to take the necessary precautions even if social distancing guidelines and stay at home orders were lifted. Over 60% would continue to stay at home and maintain social distancing behaviors. Additionally, nearly 70% said they would continue to start to wear protective equipment (for example a face mask) in public settings. For those who responded in locations where shelter in place has been lifted, only ~25% of respondents said that they were attending small social events.

Through this challenging time, we were also inspired by our members who responded to many questions with great empathy and creativity as they have adapted to new routines. In fact, when asked about their concerns if they were to be diagnosed, 75% of respondents expressed concern over getting others sick in their worries. This fear was followed by 60% of respondents expressing their worry over the physical discomforts of getting sick. Regarding ways to minimize changes to physical and mental health, we’ve seen an uptick in individuals sharing the importance of maintaining whatever routines possible, avoiding or taking breaks from the news, and a continued connection through video chats with friends and family. In fact, maintaining connection through social media scored high for Evidation Members as a method to socialize with others. Both last week and this week, 70% of respondents said they used social media to socialize with other people.

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As we continue to be home during the coronavirus, we wanted to share another collection of snack ideas that you can make at home. We know that being stuck indoors can be tough, but hopefully getting creative in the kitchen continues to be a fun pastime for many.

1. Try your hand at making a sweet or savory dip at home! Check out this greek cucumber yogurt dip from the Today Show or this three ingredient Healthy Honey Mustard Dip from the blog Cupcakes and Kale Chips.
2. Experiment with no-bake bars like this No Bake Chocolate Oat Bar from All Recipes.
3. Make your own cup of Dalgona Coffee (the Coronavirus trend that’s bringing out everyone’s internal barista)
4. Test out the dessert that’s on the rise — make this three ingredient crème brûlée.
5. Bring Disneyland to your home with Disney’s official homemade churro recipe.
6. In the absence of a trip to Benihana’s, learn how to make this chicken fried rice at home.
7. Check out Wacky cake. It’s an old favorite that came from the Depression when there was less access to ingredients. This cake only takes a few, simple ingredients.
8. Have some Nutella handy in your pantry? Make these DIY Nutella pops with two other ingredients and a popsicle stick.
9. Eat breakfast like one of the royal family by trying out Prince Charles’ famous cheesy baked eggs
10. If you’re feeling fancy, you can also give Queen Elizabeth’s drop scones a try.

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