Creating an Empirical Dermatology Dataset Through Crowdsourcing With Web Search Advertisements
Authors: Ward Abbi , Li Jimmy , Wang Julie , Lakshminarasimhan Sriram , Carrick Ashley , Campana Bilson , Hartford Jay , Sreenivasaiah Pradeep K. , Tiyasirisokchai Tiya , Virmani Sunny , Wong Renee , Matias Yossi , Corrado Greg S. , Webster Dale R. , Smith Margaret Ann , Siegel Dawn , Lin Steven , Ko Justin , Karthikesalingam Alan , Semturs Christopher , Rao Pooja 
Published: November 2024

ImportanceHealth datasets from clinical sources do not reflect the breadth and diversity of disease, impacting research, medical education, and artificial intelligence tool development. Assessments of novel crowdsourcing methods to create health datasets are needed.ObjectiveTo evaluate if web search advertisements (ads) are effective at creating a diverse and representative dermatology image dataset.Design, Setting, and ParticipantsThis prospective observational survey study, conducted from March to November 2023, used Google Search ads to invite internet users in the US to contribute images of dermatology conditions with demographic and symptom information to the Skin Condition Image Network (SCIN) open access dataset. Ads were displayed against dermatology-related search queries on mobile devices, inviting contributions from adults after a digital informed consent process. Contributions were filtered for image safety and measures were taken to protect privacy. Data analysis occurred January to February 2024.ExposureDermatologist condition labels as well as estimated Fitzpatrick Skin Type (eFST) and estimated Monk Skin Tone (eMST) labels.Main Outcomes and MeasuresThe primary metrics of interest were the number, quality, demographic diversity, and distribution of clinical conditions in the crowdsourced contributions. Spearman rank order correlation was used for all correlation analyses, and the χ2 test was used to analyze differences between SCIN contributor demographics and the US census.ResultsIn total, 5749 submissions were received, with a median of 22 (14-30) per day. Of these, 5631 (97.9%) were genuine images of dermatological conditions. Among contributors with self-reported demographic information, female contributors (1732 of 2596 contributors [66.7%]) and younger contributors (1329 of 2556 contributors [52.0%] aged &amp;lt;40 years) had a higher representation in the dataset compared with the US population. Of 2614 contributors who reported race and ethnicity, 852 (32.6%) reported a racial or ethnic identity other than White. Dermatologist confidence in assigning a differential diagnosis increased with the number of self-reported demographic and skin-condition–related variables (Spearman R = 0.1537; P &amp;lt; .001). Of 4019 contributions reporting duration since onset, 2170 (54.0%) reported onset within less than 7 days of submission. Of the 2835 contributions that could be assigned a dermatological differential diagnosis, 2523 (89.0%) were allergic, infectious, or inflammatory conditions. eFST and eMST distributions reflected the geographical origin of the dataset.Conclusions and RelevanceThe findings of this survey study suggest that search ads are effective at crowdsourcing dermatology images and could therefore be a useful method to create health datasets. The SCIN dataset bridges important gaps in the availability of images of common, short-duration skin conditions.