As Math Awareness Month (MAM) winds down, we wanted to leave you with another post! The goal of MAM is to increase public understanding and appreciation for mathematics. This year’s theme is “The Future of Prediction”. Many may not realize that mathematics and statistics are widely used to predict a number of things, such as, the outcome of a ball game, the results of elections, U.S industrial production of oil and natural gas prices, and even your health. Joe Kincaid, Senior Business Process Engineer of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, determined that the healthcare industry could forecast the likelihood of coronary heart disease through the use of mathematics, statistics, and technology advancements, which he discusses in his essay “To your Health”.
The Framingham Heart Study published results in 2001 describing how diastolic blood pressure, systolic blood pressure, and pulse pressure can be used to predict the risk of coronary heart disease.
Since 1948, the study has expanded due to a variety of factors. The increased diversity of the population is one aspect, which allows for a more representative study. Another factor is the increase in the amount of available data, easily accessible due to the rise in the use of fitness trackers which quantify information about a person’s life. Technology improvements over recent years, which have expanded our computing capacity and the ability to manage large data sets have enabled the expansion of previous models.
Through the use of modeling, theoretical methods, and analysis, the medical community can better understand prospects for a person’s future health based on an individual’s current health, lifestyle and family history. Interdisciplinary work by medical researchers, computing infrastructure, data scientists, and of course the theoretical work of mathematicians and statisticians, are paramount to achieve these objectives.
Read Joe Kincaid’s full essay here and don’t forget to connect with SIAM!
Happy Math Awareness Month!
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