Mobile device data for the study of miscarriage and its causes.

Abstract

Miscarriage is a common pregnancy complication that is difficult to study. Using information on 580,000 US pregnancies from a menstrual- and pregnancy-tracking app, we demonstrate that mobile device data can detect miscarriage and replicate patterns of miscarriage risk found in high-quality Norwegian administrative data and in US clinical cohorts. App data may greatly expand research on miscarriage, including the contributions of "upstream" social, economic, and environmental factors that have eluded study.